Off-Broadway Review: Fiasco Theater’s Production of “Merrily We Roll Along” at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre (Through Sunday April 7, 2019)Book by George Furth Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Based on the original play by George S. Kaufman and Moss HartReviewed by Joseph VerlezzaTheatre Reviews Limited

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” could prove to become the mantra of the famed Sondheim musical “Merrily We Roll Along” which was a dismal failure when it first opened on Broadway in 1981. There is a new production helmed by the Roundabout’s resident Fiasco Theater Company which falls short of delivering a new efficacious incarnation, becoming yet another casualty in the history of this troublesome and puzzling show. This current endeavor lacks the emotional depth of the characters needed to successfully bring forth the message; additionally, the cast is not vocally capable of delivering most of the brilliant musical numbers. However, the orchestrations and new arrangements for the eight-piece orchestra by Alexander Gemignani allow the audience to wallow in the brilliance of Mr. Sondheim’s captivating score and are the highlight of this production.

It has been suggested that the trouble with the original production had much to do with the twist of a backward timeline running from present to past. This might have been a problem in 1981 but with so many television movies and series now using this familiar technique it is difficult to imagine that would have any negative effect on a solid production today. The plot follows the relationship of three close friends from their midlife, acerbic, and decayed friendships back to their hopeful, innocent youth after college when they set out to conquer the world and aspire to their dreams. In the last musical number “Our Time,” set on a NYC rooftop in 1957, Frank (a rather sedate Ben Steinfeld) and Charley (a convincing but too mellow Manu Narayan) are poised to write the next smash Broadway musical, while Mary (a brash but calculated Jessie Austrian) has her eye on becoming a famous novelist. This is where they first meet to witness a new beginning as Sputnik 1 entered Earth’s orbit, and they launched themselves into the world with self- proclaimed promises and close comradery. Scene one in 1979 exposes a cynical Frank, an alcoholic Mary, a broken, neurotic Charley and a welcomed revival of “Rich and Happy” a song from the original score.

The problem that evolves in this deflated production begins when the audience does not dislike the supposedly now despicable characters enough to then reverse opinion and feel empathy towards them in the optimistic ending. This is a major concern since the focus of this production seems to be strengthening the book and minimizing the emphasis on the songs which tend to be the weakest link. Notable songs such as “Old Friends” and “Not a Day Goes By” are plagued with poor vocals or less than dramatic delivery. The massive theatrical warehouse set crammed with props, costumes and set pieces which are retrieved by the cast to create each appropriate scene, keeps your eyes busy pre-show but serves no other purpose during the performance.

Director Noah Brady moves the action along at a nice pace and makes the reversal of time clear and entertaining with some clever costume changes but fails to dig deep enough into each of these wounded characters whose dreams and relationships are shattered. This new intermission less version is lean and clean but some of what has been stripped and washed away is the dramatic weight, along with the grit and grime of the human condition.

“Merrily We Roll Along” runs at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street) through Sunday April 7, 2019 on the following performance schedule: Tuesday through Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. with Wednesday, Saturday matinees at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets for “Merrily We Roll Along” are available by calling 212-719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org, in person at any Roundabout box office, or by visiting StubHub. Ticket prices range from $99.00-119.00. Running time is

In the appropriately titled play “The Waiting Game” by Charles Gershman, what quickly becomes apparent to the audience is that everyone in the play is waiting for something. Sam is in a coma from a drug overdose, waiting to wake up, die while in the coma or have someone terminate his life by pulling the plug. His husband Paolo is waiting for Sam to wake up because he thinks he is communicating with him via Gmail chat. Geoff is Sam’s new boyfriend since Sam left Paolo, and he is waiting for Paolo to grant him conservatorship so he can pull the plug and end Sam’s life. Tyler is Paolo’s new tryst and he is waiting for Paolo to give up drugs and commit to a relationship. Everyone knows everyone else and knows each other is waiting for something to happen so life can begin or for that matter end. Add to the plot drugs, sex, AIDS, and four confused, self- loathing homosexuals and the result is evident or at least self- prophesizing.

The set design by Riw Rakkulchon has made clear certain boundaries. A white outlined rectangle denotes the real playing area and a filmy see through fabric that sometimes lets the audience view Sam, separating conscious from unconscious that also doubles as a screen for projections. All the props needed in the production are lined up on the outside of the playing area behind the white outline. Director Nathan Wright has meticulously choreographed each performer to bring the props relevant to the present scene into the playing area when needed and then returned to their proper assigned place afterwards. This combined with some music, some sex and quite a bit of drug related activity extends the languishing script to a slow seventy minutes.

The play is more about the mechanisms that people use to cope with loss whether it be from death or terminated relationships. The problem here is that we never discover how those people feel as they use these superficial methods that merely postpone the grieving process. The characters seem very two-dimensional lacking emotional depth and not fully developed. The actors do their job but there is not enough to grab onto in order to transcend the material. Unfortunately, the characters that emerge in Mr. Gershman’s script are not at all likable, therefore it is difficult for the audience feel much empathy. It may be time to move forward and leave behind the old narrative of sex, drugs, foolish behavior and romantic melodrama associated with the LGBTQ+ community and examine how their relationships have evolved in today’s social climate.

“The Waiting Game” runs for a limited engagement through Sunday, February 23rd, 2019. The performance schedule is Tuesday – Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Single tickets are $25.00 ($20.00 for 59E59 Members). Tickets are available by calling the 59E59 Box Office on 646-892-7999 or by visiting www.59e59.org.

Off-Broadway Review: “Mies Julie” at Classic Stage Company (Through Sunday March 10, 2019)By Yaël Farber – Adapted from the Play “Miss Julie” by August StrindbergDirected by Shariffa Ali Reviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

August Strindberg’s naturalism and themes transfer brilliantly from his “Miss Julie” to Yaël Farber’s adaptation of Strindberg’s classic. Farber’s “Mies Julie” is currently running at Classic Stage Company in repertory with the Conor McPherson’s adaptation of Strindberg’s “The Dance of Death.” Like the 1985 stage version of “Miss Julie” at Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre, Mr. Farber’s 2012 adaptation takes place in South Africa. Shariffa Ali’s electrifying staging replaces Strindberg’s celebration of Midsummer’s Eve with the “restitutions of body and soul” churned up by the Xhosa Freedom Day celebration.

Afrikaans protagonist Mies Julie (Elise Kibler) and Xhosa antagonist John (James Udom), though childhood friends, are from vastly different social orders. Now in their twenties, they are separated by insurmountable divides of class, race, and social status. Unfortunately, they are also “star-crossed” lovers foreshadowing the breakdown of South Africa’s fragile social order and the equally dangerous breakdown of historical social and sexual distinctions. Their extended cat-and-mouse game of alienation and rapprochement defines the dramatic arc of Yaël Farber’s distinctive adaptation. Each knows they must escape the ghosts of their past and the imprisonment of their present. Escaping Ukhokho the specter of one’s ancestry (Vinie Burrows) proves to be a risky business.

James Udom is a monumental John who, when on stage, commands the intricies of Farber’s text to be exposed as he delivers a layered and persuasive performance. Whether he is shining the farm owner’s boots, comforting his mother Christine (a compliant yet hope-filled Patrice Johnson Chevannes), or jockeying for social prominence with Mies Julie, Mr. Udom wastes no movement, no expression, no word as he pays tribute to his complex character. Elise Kibler delivers her performance as Julie with nuanced layers of dominance, sadness, regret, and nagging self-destructiveness. Although her performance lacks Mr. Udom’s sustained intensity, Ms. Kibler provides a Julie that is a worthwhile adversary for John. Under Shariffa Ali’s direction, James Udom, Elise Kibler, and Patrice Johnson Chevannes deliver authentic and believable performances that richly manifest the enduring conflicts of their characters.

Adaptations of Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” have been set in the Old South, the English countryside, and in Cape Town and presented in the genres of stage, ballet, opera, film, and television. These adaptations highlight Strindberg’s themes of the fragility of social orders and the inevitable failure of sexual and social differences, including the tensions between the Roman Catholic Irish and Anglo-Irish Protestant communities. However, none have been as powerful as the Yaël Farber retelling set on Freedom Day 2012 in the farmhouse kitchen in Eastern Cape – Karoo, South Africa.

Issues of race, gender, power, privilege, and hope cascade across David L. Arsenault’s expansive set and are ultimately consummated on the kitchen farm table set center stage where Julie’s self-destructive personality and John’s deep sadness collide in an explosive scene where raw sexual power serves as a rich metaphor for the reversal of roles between Julie and John forcing both to make decisions about future and the sustainability of life as each has known it. In this final scene, a Pandora’s box of tropes – one more exhaustingly powerful than the next – cascade beyond the borders of the stage sustaining the play’s soul-bending catharsis.

As the 2018-2019 theatre season draws to a close, “Mies Julie” is a play to see: its themes counterpoint the struggles for true freedom that continue to beg for resolution.

MIES JULIE

“Mies Julie” features Elise Kibler as Julie, James Udom as John, Vinie Burrows as Ukhokho, and Patrice Johnson Chevannes as Christine.

Performances of “Mies Julie” will take place at Classic Stage Company (136 East 13th Street) on the following performance schedule: January 13, 14, 24, 27, and 28, and March 10 at 7:00 p.m. It will be performed 16, and 22, and March 2 and 8 at 8:00 p.m. Matinee performances will take place February 17, and 23, and March 3 and 9 at 2:00 p.m. For further information, visit https://www.classicstage.org/.

The present-day social climate in the theater world has fervently addressed non-traditional casting, gender identity, and diversity as part of an effort to be inclusive and accepting. When a production exhibits a little gender bending, there should be a valid explanation or reasoning behind the decision, whether it be historical, social, or dramatic persuasion. In the case of “Eddie and Dave” penned by Amy Staats and running at Atlantic Stage 2, it seems to be purely for fun, adding a bit of desperately needed humor to the banal script.

The plot follows the rise to fame of the music group Van Halen, with the dramatic arc depending on the sole goal of revealing what led to the fall out between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth. The assumption is that it had something to do with what happened on stage during their reunion at the MTV awards show. It is told through the eyes of a narrator (the solid and efficient Vanessa Aspillaga), the MTV VJ who organized for the estranged music group to present best artist award. It is no more than a pedestrian tale of sex, drugs and rock and roll pulled from any number of entertainment tabloids. There is no character development and you learn nothing new about the bands development or the devastating break-up.

What puts a new spin on this version of the story is the addition of gender bending where the male parts are played by women and the female parts are played by men. What this accomplishes is no more than turning the story into a satirical spoof. The problem that arises is that it truly is not a satire and it is not funny enough to be a spoof. It only supplies sporadic laughs from a tired audience who is bored with repetitious pseudo guitar riffs and rampant coke snorting. The wonderful mullets created by Cookie Jordan and appropriate costumes designed by Montana Levi Blanco to achieve the cartoonish gender bending, only entertain for the first thirty minutes or so of the ninety-minute show before losing their impact and charm.

The cast does what it can with the material but at times they even seem to wonder what their job really is and why they are telling this story in this peculiar way. Omer Abbas Salem seems to enjoy flaunting his feminine side as Valerie Bertinelli, changing costumes every chance he gets. Playwright Amy Staats portrays the drug addicted guitarist Eddie with too much stability, lacking the drug addict’s mood swings. Adina Verson turns Al into a rehabilitated force of reason that is a bit conservative. The entire cast seems to be having a good time as they move through the antics provided by director Margot Bordelon. The result is somewhat of an overlong television comedy sketch that does not include any music from the legendary rock and roll band Van Halen.

“Eddie and Dave” runs at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16th Street) through Sunday February 10, 2019. For more information, including performance schedule and ticketing, visit https://atlantictheater.org/.

The first image after the lights come up on stage is a slumped over, motionless, naked man sitting on a toilet. What follows is a silence that fills the room and becomes a force that provokes processing this scene. There might be the assumption that this is not a comedy. That would be a good guess, since the subject matter of “I’m Not a Comedian . . . I’m Lenny Bruce,” currently enjoying a successful run at The Cutting Room, is the tragic life of the outrageous, groundbreaking comedian. Yes, there are snippets from his more familiar routines to provide a glimpse into what was considered obscene during his heyday in the turbulent decade of the 1960s. His act complimented a society filled with protests and marches, supporting civil rights and denouncing war, proving Lenny Bruce was a performer that took to the stage intentionally to become a fierce advocate for free speech. He was arrested several times and charged with public obscenity for the shocking language he used in his routines that scoffed race, religion, sex, and politics. This one-man show is testament that his stand-up comedy was more abrasive than funny and reinforces the power of words. Mr. Bruce exposed the hypocrisy of humanity in such an unconventional style that his audience was shocked and humored at the same time.

Playwright and actor Ronnie Marmo bears a slight resemblance to his real-life character, but that is not what captures the essence of the iconic bad-mouthed comedian. Mr. Marmo deftly provides an authenticity to the cadence, posture, and mannerisms of the comic, but what suspends the audience in disbelief is his ability to inhabit the soul of Lenny Bruce immersed in a crusade. The disintegration of this antagonist of morality begins after several arrests, his divorce from the love of his life, stripper Honey Harlow, and his addiction to heroin which eventually killed him from an overdose in 1966. During his downward spiral, Mr. Bruce begins to unravel while appearing in court, when the judge denies him the opportunity to perform his routine in order to prove that his obscene words and actions were taken out of context and not libelous. Mr. Marmo gives an honest performance saturated with a sensitive empathy that reveals the humanity of the comic, which during his short career, was disguised by his controversial and shocking public persona.

Director Joe Mantegna at times uses a heavy hand to extract the emotional content of the piece but fits the pieces of this puzzling life together in a clear and comprehensive manner. As playwright, Mr. Marmo is less successful, not delving deep enough into what drove the comedian to embrace the campaign for free speech. His emotionally charged personal life is evident, what’s missing is the exploration of his acute intellect and shrewd observation. Regardless, this is a show that will please an audience, from avid fans who are familiar with the material, to a new generation who will be introduced to the precursor of some of the greatest comics of their time.

The end of the show brings the audience back to the opening scene. A slumped, motionless, naked man sitting on a toilet. Only this time you understand what led to this disturbing vignette, and when the silence once again permeates the room and coerces you to process, there is a sadness that fills the air when realizing that this brave pioneer died too young.

“I’m Not A Comedian . . . I’m Lenny Bruce” runs at the Cutting Room (44 East 32nd Street) through Wednesday January 30, 2019). For more information and to purchase tickets, ranging in price from $50.00-$125.00, please visit www.LennyBruceOnStage.com. Running time is 90 minutes without intermission, explores mature themes and includes strong language and nudity.

Abby Rosebrock introduces an interesting mélange of broken characters in her new play “Blue Ridge” currently running at Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater. She drops these six disparate “recovering” personalities into the vortex of a Christian halfway house in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. Pastor Hern (a cagey but caring Chris Stack) and his partner Grace (a sincere and dedicated Nicole Lewis) run the place and come to the enterprise with their own baggage. Their twelve-step-type program includes daily Bible study, meditation, community service, and help securing required employment.

It is at one of the Bible study sessions that we meet the current residents Cherie (a trusting and dependent Kristolyn Lloyd) and Wade (a sensitive and contemplative Kyle Beltran) as well as newcomers Alison (a fiery and rage-filled Marin Ireland) and Cole (a vulnerable and playful Peter Mark Kendall). As with any family system – and this family is systemically dysfunctional – the addition of Alison and Cole disrupts any sense of equilibrium that had developed at the house prior to their arrival. Alison has been remanded to the halfway house after axing her ex-lover and boss Glenn’s Honda and losing her teaching license (he was her principal). Cole arrives shortly after hoping for an alternate place to recover.

Alison substitutes sharing her bible verse by “comparing diametrically opposed, country Western texts that uh. Not only, resonate powerfully, with the current moment in my life but, also probly, represent the two spiritual poles'uh my entire existence [sic].” She parses Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel” and “Before He Cheats” to exemplify her willingness to “Let Go and Let God” and to inexplicably justify her axing Glenn’s Honda. Both Cherie and Wade find the references odd and question the wisdom of taking one’s hands off the wheel while driving. Pastor Hern agrees. An important foreshadowing of things to come.

As multidimensional and multileveled as these characters are, the playwright never allows them to develop fully as they interact with their “peers” in the halfway house. For example, Cole – a character who has a rich healing presence – leaves as quickly as he arrived after an uncomfortable albeit important encounter with Alison and the audience never is quite sure how Pastor Hern has managed to carry on the secret relationship with Cherie or what his motivation was for founding the halfway house.

Abby Rosebrock chooses to tackle a myriad of relevant and important themes, including: psychosexual trauma and dysfunction; sexual, cultural, and racial dynamics; dynamics of sexual status; power and the various ways men (specifically) can exercise and misuse that power in relationships and in the workplace (Me Too Movement). Although no one of these themes receives an exhaustive exploration in “Blue Ridge,” an interesting aggregate of these problems is examined in the relationship between Hern (who has a girlfriend) and house resident Cherie (referenced above) with whom he has an inappropriate relationship.

It is here that Ms. Rosebrock makes her most compelling argument and raises the most rich and enduring questions. Everyone in the halfway house has either voluntarily relinquished control of their lives or have been asked to compromise the control they should have over their own lives. As each member comes to terms with those things they have not dealt with, the family dynamic changes and the structure itself begins to dissolve. Taibi Magar directs “Blue Ridge” with acute care allowing each actor to explore their character’s conflicts and the resolution of those conflicts. In the process, the characters experience vulnerability, rage, and pain allowing the audience members to explore their own paths to recovery.

“Blue Ridge” runs at Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues) through Saturday January 26th, 2019 on the following performance schedule: Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday at 8:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. For information on additional performances and to purchase tickets, visit www.atlantictheater.org. Running time is 2 hours with one brief intermission.

Broadway Review: “Network” at the Belasco Theatre (Currently On)Adapted by Lee Hall Based on the Paddy Chayefsky FilmDirected by Ivo Van HoveReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

When Howard Beale (a tortured yet determined Bryan Cranston) first admonishes his listeners to get out of their chairs, go their widows, stick out their heads and yell, “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore,” the audience at the Belasco Theatre erupts with a nostalgia that since the 1976 release of Paddy Chayefsky’s “Network” has morphed into a current state of being: an irrepressible rage about the state of the world, particularly about the current political environment. The satire in Chayefsky’s iconic film transfers well to Lee Hall’s adaptation currently running at the Belasco.

Sitting at a bar after being fired as UBS-TV Network’s News Hour news anchor by Max Schumacher (a duplicitous and frightened Tony Goldwyn) his friend of twenty-five years, Howard tells Max he is going to kill himself by blowing his “brains out right on the air, right in the middle of the six-o’clock news.” Howard makes the same announcement during his evening broadcast which sets in motion the dramatic arc of “Network’s” brilliantly executed narrative about the vicissitudes of Howard Beale’s life, death, and life beyond death. This narrative involves the executive staffs of UBS-TV, its parent company CCA, and members of their families.

The broadcast’s associate producer Harry Hunter (Julian Elijah Martinez), director (Bill Timony), floor manager (Jason Babinsky) and station executive Frank Hackett (a determined and charismatic Joshua Boone) want to replace Howard; however, the ratings for the news broadcast reach its highest share after Howard’s rant and decisions whether to keep Howard on as anchor drive the play’s tension-driven rising action. Howard’s rants morph from curmudgeonly to leveling harsh criticism of the whole business of gathering and broadcasting news. He loses the support of his secretary (a seductive and self-willed Camila Cano-Flavia) and oddly garners support from CCA’s Arthur Jensen (a wily and villainous Nick Wyman).

Howard’s downward spiral and Jensen’s lack of desire to reign him in leaves the network executives in a quandary, particularly after Howard says, “Well, if there’s anyone out there who can look around this demented slaughterhouse of a world we live in and tell me man is a noble creature, believe me, that man is full of [expletive deleted].” Whether Howard Beale remains, or leaves has untenable consequences for the network, leaving Hackett to affirm, “I am going to kill Howard Beale. I’m going to impale the son of a bitch with a sharp stick through the heart.” The irony here is that despite Howard’s warning not to believe the “illusion” the networks are spinning, almost everything of significance the audience knows about Howard is learned through his broadcasts.

“Network” addresses important themes and raises equally significant enduring questions. “Network” parses the word ‘network’ in a variety of ways, adding richness and layered depth to the important narrative. Not only a term for a broadcasting entity, ‘network” also has the positive connotation of the important connection between individuals and communities. It also has the added more nuanced meaning of the type of networks developed and exploited by bots and trolls on the various social media platforms. So what meaning does the living, dying, and living beyond dying Howard Beale espouse?

Ivo Van Hove’s innovative direction successfully places the outstanding cast as well as the audience in the “live set” of a typical news broadcast. The ability to see Howard at the news desk as well as on screen and be able to hear all conversations is a magnificent feat. There is even a bit of legerdemain at the end of the play. Tal Yarden’s set is full of nooks and crannies that tantalize the audience’s interest in the normal and the nefarious “off-set” activities.

[Postscript: This reviewer found the onstage seating and eating extremely disruptive and annoying. The constant clanking of flatware on ceramic dinnerware is just as intrusive as an errant cell phone. Also, waiters moving around the tables distracted from the integrity of the performance. And why are the onstage patrons allowed to stroll around the stage and freely take photos while “regular” audience members are scolded when they wish to take a photo prior to performance? Hopefully, this style of elitism in stage seating and pay-for-privileges will not become de rigueur on Broadway.]

“Network” features scenic and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld, video design by Tal Yarden, costume design by An D’Huys and music and sound by Eric Sleichim.

Tickets are available at www.Telecharge.com (212-239-6200) or at the Belasco Theatre box office (111 W 44th Street) and range from $49.00 – $189.00 (including the $2 facility fee). Onstage FOODWORK tickets are available from $299.00 Ticket price includes a series of small plates and cocktails. For more information visit www.NetworkBroadway.com. Running time is 2 hours without intermission.

If you are a fan of Irish plays you will most likely recognize the characters and may recall hearing similar stories as you listen and watch the epic family drama “The Ferryman” by Jez Butterworth now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. That is where the familiarity stops, allowing the brilliant dialogue of Mr. Butterworth and the sagacious, meticulous direction of Sam Mendes to take you on a three hour and fifteen-minute journey through the hearts and minds of the expansive Carney family. The plot is thick with the burdens of politics and religion that are complicated by love, loss and tradition. Except for the prologue, all the action takes place in the expansive kitchen and living area of the Carney family in rural County Armagh, Northern Ireland, late summer in 1981. This punctilious set designed by Rob Howell is authentic, dominated by a soaring staircase that members of this unsettled family might climb, in order to retreat from the agitated activities of everyday life. Mr. Howell’s costumes are never intrusive, only fortifying the ambience of time and place, while also placing another layer on top of the already genuine characters. Punctuate each scene with the atmospheric lighting design of Peter Mumford and you are transported into the suspension of disbelief.

This is a theatrical event that is riveting, filled with monologues that coax laughter from your gut, tease tears from your eyes and reveal secrets that bring the plot closer to the explosive climax. The enormous cast of twenty-one, not counting the infant, the goose and the rabbit, is impeccable as they expose themselves, dissecting their characters until there is nothing more to learn. It is difficult to single out special performances but there are some worthy of mention. Paddy Considine creates a perplexed Quinn Carney with a tapestry of emotions that paint a vivid picture of his psyche. Laura Donnelly brings strength, intelligence and vulnerability to the presence of Caitlin Carney. Wisdom is brought to the dimwitted Tom Kettle by Justin Edwards, who is full of surprises and generosity that comes forth with every beat of his gracious heart. The wise cracking, ornery, and opinionated Aunt Pat is brought to life by Dearbhla Molloy with strong conviction and steadfast persona. Fionnula Flanagan turns Aunt Maggie into a skillful raconteur, as she sporadically awakens to spout stories from the past that entertain the children. Each member of the entire ensemble is remarkable as they stand alone and become even better as they complement each other. Under the fluid direction of Mr. Mendes, the actor’s movements are choreographed in perfect harmony capturing the bucolic life of a rural Irish family.

This is a monumental piece of theater that will stand up to the test of time. It is a thrilling drama of crime and passion that infects a peculiar family which is navigating a contentious, political landscape and struggling to survive. The humor is dark, the sentiment is light, and the suffering runs deep within the characters souls but they never waiver, standing proud and persevering anything that threatens their existence. It is one of the must-see productions of season.

Anyone who is or was a fan of Cher during the past six decades will find it difficult to resist the urge to see the new Broadway musical based on her fascinating life and intriguing career that is now playing at Neil Simon Theatre. It would be wise to follow that urge and see for yourself how the beat still goes on. “The Cher Show” follows the same format as a similar musical currently running on Broadway – that show scheduled to close at the end of the year after its successful nine month run. Three actors portray the musical icon at different stages of her life: Babe (an incredible Micaela Diamond in her Broadway debut); Lady (a convincing Teal Wicks); and Star (the incomparable Stephanie J. Block). This reliable convention becomes even more entertaining when in theory, it follows the adage “if I knew then what I know now,” and the characters give each other (themselves) advice. It may seem a bit confusing but the book by Rick Elice, although a bit campy at times, is crystal clear and informative in depicting the highs and lows of a fascinating life and career.

The story begins during Cher’s early childhood and adolescence as Cherilyn Sarkisian is being raised by her single mother Georgia Holt (the always superb Emily Skinner) after her Armenian father left when she was only ten months old. Moving on to her teenage years when she meets Sonny Bono (a solid Jarrod Spector) who was working for Phil Specter, she moves in with him, marries him and they form their infamous dynamic musical duo with the breakout hit “I Got You Babe.” Th musical then moves on to the very successful television variety show and an unpleasant breakup and divorce. Then a transition to Cher’s career as a solo artist and self- determined female in a male dominated industry – after some sound advice from none other than Lucille Ball. Next comes Cher’s Broadway stage and film career, winning an Oscar for the film “Moonstruck” keeping company only with her Grammy and Emmy awards. Along the way, she gives birth to two children, enters another failed marriage to Greg Allman, a farewell tour and residency in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace.

“The Cher Show” might be billed as a jukebox musical; however, after viewing the production, one learns that Cher often sung about what she had experienced in life, making her songs fit perfectly into her life story. The supporting cast is more than competent playing several characters that were influential in the star’s life. Choreographer Christopher Gattelli gives his indefatigable ensemble a workout with his energetic production numbers, which they execute with acute precision. Director Jason Moore moves the evening along at a fast pace, never wasting a minute on nostalgia or dwelling on melancholic situations, but always moving forward. Then there are the costumes, and the costumes and the costumes, by Bob Mackie. An endless parade of astonishing, revealing outfits, embellished with fringe and sequins that became Cher’s trademark.

There is nothing groundbreaking about this show, but it is good solid entertainment with performances that would be hard to beat. It sheds some light on the journey of a musical icon but also on a strong, compassionate woman that took responsibility for her mistakes and triumphs. What set her apart was her fearless determination, unsurpassed originality and incessant self-respect and dignity.

Tickets for “The Cher Show are currently available at www.TheCherShowBroadway.com or www.Ticketmaster.com 877-250-2929). Ticket prices range from $59.00 - $169.00 Premium tickets range from $199.00 - $299.00. Running time is 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission.

There is quite an intriguing theatrical event occurring at the Rattlestick Theater, where two ninety-minute plays separated by a thirty-minute communal dinner break takes the stage to engage an audience of fifty, in two compelling dramas. The playhouse is stripped down to its original walls discovering weathered multi paned windows and worn wainscoting, wearing years of neglect, with some sections beyond repair. This is the performance space, perhaps a foreshadowing of a shared theme of discovery, as two brave young people make a journey following the steps of their ancestors only to reveal the ugly past and face the troubled and turbulent present.

The first play deals with Marnie (a fiesty, determined and fearless Leah Karpel) who is a direct descendant of Merriweather Lewis. She makes an unexpected visit to her estranged grandmother Alice (a solid and stoic Kristin Griffith), on what is left of the family farm. Alice has been selling off parcels of the family legacy to developers, who are devouring the small rural town and spitting out hundreds of new luxury condominiums. Alice has a roommate Connor (a calm and sensitive Arnie Burton) who is not only a friend but a caretaker, since Alice had to fight to survive cancer. There are more than enough confrontations between the three characters as secrets surface when layers are slowly peeled away from the protective façade they have built up over the years. Marnie exposes Connor as a closeted homosexual, delves into the depths of her mother’s suicide, challenges the sale of her heritage and in protest, she pitches her tent on the front lawn, refusing to leave. Ms. Griffith captures the pain, strength and fortitude of a crusty Midwest grandmother with perfection, but it is the piercing honesty in her eyes that conveys her compassion. Mr. Burton packs his character with fervent dignity, profound insight and tactful humility. Although Ms. Karpel gives a strong performance it lacks nuance and depth, but this may be the fault of the script or direction.

After the dinner break the audience visits Clarkston on the other side of the river from Lewiston where Jake, (a frail but determined Noah Robbins), is found following the trail of his distant relative William Clark. This is merely a pit stop on his way to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, but to support his trek and bide his time, he takes a job at the Cosco across the street from the hotel. It is here that he meets co-worker Chris (a pragmatic and sensitive Edmund Donovan) and once again secrets penetrate the present causing torment and disruption. As the lives of these two young men collide, their diffidence and insecurity explode, as shrapnel of anger, pain and longing is hurled at their dreams. Enter Chris’ single mother Trisha, (a robust yet fragile Heidi Armbruster), a recovering drug addict who is desperately trying to reestablish a peaceful relationship with her son. All shed their exterior skins and bleed the truths of their existence until they collapse and need some sort of infusion of hope.

Jake is an open homosexual, has a neurological disease which will kill him before he is thirty and is a spoiled child from a wealthy Connecticut family from which he has fled. Chris is closeted and living the life of poverty in this small Midwest town. He is trying to save his broken mother, has dreams of finishing college and has yet had the opportunity to really love and be loved. Strange bedfellows that are a perfect match for exploring and discovery. This is a ninety minute emotionally brutal dance that remarkably is beautiful, tender and a joy to watch. Ms. Armbruster allows the smooth, hard shell of Trisha to crack, allowing a river of weakness to flow from within. Mr. Robbins is the epitome of confusion, changing like a chameleon, from a confident adventurer to a phlegmatic realist to a forlorn child instinctively choosing the correct passionate reaction to match the activity. Then there is Mr. Dononan who gives a compelling performance as Chris, coaxing every morsel of emotion from his damaged soul like a wounded soldier returning from a battle. His precise, skillful acting is only surpassed by his brilliant reacting which captures every human fiber and feeling of his character. He is a harbinger of a new generation of significant American actors.

Hopefully there will be another extension to the current run in its present state. Playwright Samuel D. Hunter has written a new classic American play, not quite a tragedy, but that being said, there are no resolutions to the inauspicious events. It is a valid commentary on the current social divide and the state of the country’s moral integrity, littering our small rural towns with big box stores and replacing farms with cubical condominiums to satisfy the greed and need of the wealthy. Even though the two works are complimentary, Clarkston, the latter of the pair could easily stand on its own and please future audiences. This is one of the best plays of the season and without doubt some of the finest performances. Give yourself a holiday gift and find a ticket to one of the remaining shows.

LEWISTON/CLARKSTON

The cast of “Lewiston” includes Arnie Burton, Kristin Griffith, and Leah Karpel.

“Lewiston/Clarkston” will feature set design by Dane Laffrey, costume design by Jessica Wegener Shay, lighting design by Stacey DeRosier, and sound design by Fitz Patton. The Dramaturg is John Baker, the Stage Manager is Katie Young, the Production Manager is Jenny Beth Snyder, the Technical Director is Aaron Gonzalez, and the Associate Directors are Shadi Ghaheri and Lillian Meredith.

There is no doubt that the so called “Hello Girls,” the bilingual operators that were sent to the front line to operate secured switchboards, were invaluable to the Signal Corps units in World War I. It is unfortunate that they needed to fight for sixty years to be recognized as veterans of that war in order to receive appropriate benefits. It was just one more example of the historic and ongoing women’s crusade for equal rights. So, it is fitting that there be an acknowledgement of their service in any form, including the documentary and the current stage musical by the same name now running at 59E59 Theaters. This recent tribute is produced by Prospect Theater Company and features a remarkable cast of performers who do triple duty as actors, vocalists and musicians playing multiple instruments.

If their story is unfamiliar, they are a group of American Bell telephone operators, fluent in French, who were recruited to serve overseas, finding themselves at A.E.F. Headquarters on in Chaumont, France and ultimately on the front line as the war ended. Their story is one of struggle at every turn, to prove themselves equally qualified, if not superior to the men serving in the same capacity and to adapt themselves to the hardships and cruelty of war. Comradery, bravery, loyalty and resilience would describe their characters, but determination and patriotism provided their strength. In no uncertain terms they were an integral part of conquering the enemy.

Lt. Joseph W. Riser (a domineering Arlo Hill) is Captain of the unit and conveys the understated message of malaise and resentment with subtle charm. Mr. Hill’s powerful vocals reflect his character’s variety of intellectual sentiment. Grace Banker (an efficient and intuitive Ellie Fishman) is Chief Operator who bathes her persona with tenacity and commitment. Ms. Fishman infuses her role with strong vocals that always discover the evolving emotion obscured by the action. Lili Thomas creates a no-nonsense Bertha Hunt, the only married woman in the unit. Ms. Thomas competently covers Brass and Piano when necessary. A plain and solid Helen Hill is portrayed by Chanel Karimkhani with honesty, as she handles her cello with ease. Louise LeBreton is the spirit of the troupe, always inventing a reason to party and played with a devilish charm by Cathryn Wake, who intermittently wails on the clarinet. Skyler Volpe plays a fearless Suzanne Prevot with a zeal for adventure. Ms. Volpe lends her guitar to the musical arrangements as well. The remainder of the skilled actors and musicians in the supporting cast are proficient in all their duties.

This is an enjoyable evening of significant theater shedding some light on the history of World War I. It is difficult to create any tension or element of surprise which affects the dramatic arc since so much of what happens is predictable especially in the first act. If the women were not recruited and were not a notable contribution to winning the war what would be the point? Considering that analogy, the play is too long at nearly two hours and thirty-five minutes, with most of the unnecessary content contained in Act I. Hopefully the creative team will continue to hone the piece to produce a more concentrated story eliminating any irrelevant or repetitious material. It is still worth a visit to see this current production performed by an extremely talented cast.

The design team includes Lianne Arnold (scenic and projection design); Isabella Byrd (lighting design); Whitney Locher (costume design); and Kevin Heard (sound design). Madeline Smith is the music consultant. The Production Stage Manager is Emily Ballou.

“The Hello Girls” runs at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues) through Saturday December 22, 2018. The single ticket price is $25.00 - $70.00 ($25.00 - $49.00 for 59E59 Members). Tickets are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or by visiting www.59e59.org. Running time is 2 hours and 30 minutes, including intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: “The Other Josh Cohen” at the Westside Theatre/Downstairs (Through Sunday February 24, 2019)Book, Music and Lyrics by David Rossmer and Steve RosenDirected by Hunter FosterReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

“The Other Josh Cohen,” currently running at the Westside Theatre/Downstairs, has been bemoaning the hapless and lackluster life of Josh Cohen (Steve Rosen) through his Doppelganger narrator Josh (David Rossmer) since October 2012. That’s a long time to celebrate having one’s apartment robbed of everything, rehearsing one’s dysfunctional family, recounting a string of failed romantic relationships, and resolving the mystery of a letter and check for a substantial sum of money – yet, audiences continue to cheer Josh on, apparently identifying with this fictional character’s “hard luck life” and his ability to overcome misfortune and re-create himself and his future.

Josh Cohen’s year long (Valentine’s Day to Valentine’s Day) struggle with the vicissitudes of life is chronicled in eleven musical numbers by an energetic and talented cast that not only sing but play a variety of instruments with consummate skill. The musical has an interesting book and relatable lyrics; however, the music seems very much the same except for a couple of numbers which thankfully vary in tempo and style. Director Hunter Foster moves the action along at breakneck speed despite some scenes seeming overlong and overwrought. There are only so many times one can reimagine scenes with a Neil Diamond CD (other than a daily cat calendar, one of the few things left by the robber) and an empty porn CD case.

The convention of the two Josh Cohens works well and the repartee between the two and emergence of one from the other also sustains interest. The musical’s themes of the need to “Hang On” and to embrace change are important and always timely. It just takes a bit too long to get to that resolution after an oft-repeated exposition about Josh’s life.

That said, “The Other Josh Cohen” continues to entertain and celebrate hope in uncertain and challenging times.

“The Other Josh Cohen” runs at the Westside Theatre/Downstairs (407 West 43rd Street) through Sunday February 24, 2019. For further information about “The Other Josh Cohen” and to purchase tickets, visit http://otherjoshcohen.com/#home. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

Broadway Review: “The New One” at the Cort Theatre (Through Sunday January 20, 2019)Written and Performed by Mike BirbigliaDirected by Seth BarrishReviewed by Joseph VerlezzaTheatre Reviews Limited

When he walks onto stage to applause at the Cort Theatre to begin his show “The New One,” It is evident that Mike Birbiglia has a huge following and some dedicated fans. The one-man show recently transferred to Broadway after a successful off-Broadway run at The Cherry Lane Theater. Mike Birbiglia is casual, an everyman, as he proceeds to mic himself as though he is just getting ready for another day at the office. This action sets the audience on par, making them feel comfortable. This is a great introduction to his observational humor that relies mostly on the audience being able to relate to the situations he is about to expound upon. He speaks softly, in an unassuming tone, projecting a demure character, without a mean bone in his body so when his thoughts drift over to a negative perspective, there is absolution. He immediately attempts to win over his audience, to assure smooth sailing for the 90-minute show.

This works for about the first half of the standup comedy routine, which is embellished by the pseudo bare stage set design of Beowulf Boritt that is full of surprises. Mr. Birbiglia starts with a conversation about his couch, then moves onto lunch at his brother’s house where his nephew smacks him in the face with foam bat. From there he ventures into medical problems, testicular references and urologist jokes, which seem all too familiar to the males in the audience, but still seem to please the entire audience since the laughter continues. The whole concept of defending the reasons why you should not have children is where the trouble begins, and this is about the entire second half of the show. It basically runs out of steam, especially after his wife becomes pregnant and gives birth to their daughter. This is where the theatrics come to the rescue which I must say are needed but not enough to revive the rest of the evening.

Most of the humor during this section is heteronormative, almost bordering on self-pity and inclusive only of birthing parents. There is nothing wrong with this choice except for the fact that it will appeal more to a certain demographic. The humor at some point digresses not turning dark but rather almost becoming a mockery. It is no longer a story but more a routine.

Mr. Birbiglia is a very funny man. He is as normal as an abnormal person can be. He has a nice smile, a soothing voice, someone you would like to have as a best friend or a next-door neighbor, but much of the humor in this show tends not to be all inclusive. Even though it is his story, addressing what he experienced, he should look a bit further and observe what others may have encountered. A little heterogeneity would possibly reach a broader audience.

THE NEW ONE

Written by Mike Birbiglia, with additional writing by Jennifer Hope Stein, “The New One” is directed by Seth Barrish with set design for Broadway by Beowulf Boritt, lighting design by Aaron Copp, and sound design by Leon Rothenberg.

“The New One” runs at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street) through Sunday January 20, 2019. Tickets are on sale through www.telecharge.com, 212-239-6200. For “The New One’s” full performance schedule, please visit www.thenewone.com.

If anyone is looking for a fun night out, grab your significant other, or for that matter just pick yourself up, get dressed and go to “The Prom” where everyone is welcomed, and you are almost guaranteed to have a good time. The good old fashioned musical has returned to Broadway and just like those legendary shows from an era gone by, this new musical confection with a book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, music by Matthew Sklar and lyrics by Mr. Beguelin, is big, broad and brassy. It is full of stereotypes, theatre references, production numbers and a lot of laughs from characters you learn to love. What sets this show apart, is that it takes a chance, betting against the odds, that an important subject matter can be addressed and resolved, even if heavily sugar coated with humor, song and dance, as long as real, honest human beings emerge in the process. The ingenuity used here is that the characters are not transformed, they are revealed as their layers of protective armor are shed by the force of integrity.

The story is largely based on the original concept by Jack Viertel which was inspired by actual events, one of which happened as early as 2010 in Mississippi. Two lesbians want to attend their high school prom together as a couple but the school refuses to let this happen and cancels the prom. Add four downtrodden, narcissistic musical theatre stars that feel they need to find a cause to support, in order to gain some good press and “bingo!” the lesbian who is not allowed to attend her prom in Edgewater Indiana suddenly pops up on the internet. The four actors make their way to the very small conservative town and the mayhem begins. Hysterical antics begin as this motley crew of actors meet the conservative Christian head of the PTA who happens to be the mother of the closeted Lesbian, the star struck principal of the school and the nebulous but sincere out and proud lesbian they have come to save. No need to go into detail but of course just like those beloved musicals of yesteryear, all’s well that ends well.

There is an incredible cast led by four great Broadway veterans that literally chew up the scenery, leaving no opportunity to make you howl with laughter, or belt out a song that will lift you out of your seat with applause. Beth Leavel gives a powerhouse performance as the despicable diva Dee Dee Allen. Christopher Sieber fills the desperate actor Trent Oliver with unfeigned hope and humor that matches his spirited vocal. Angie Schworer portrays the relentless and perpetual chorus girl looking for that big break with charm and insight. Then there is Brooks Ashmanskas who infuses Barry Glickman with infectious energy in a tour de force performance that is over the top and packed with heartfelt emotion. These talented performers are exhilarating and a joy to watch.

Director and Choreographer Casey Nicholaw coaxes laughs and candor out of every scene but knows when to turn the tide to profound passion. As always he fills the stage with powerful, high octane choreography that is precisely executed by a tireless ensemble. In this current political climate, that is experiencing a monumental moral schism, it might be said that this is not a Broadway musical for everyone and that it may offend a certain audience. On the other hand, it could be said that this should be a Broadway show that everyone should see, not to preach a certain rhetoric, but to use the power of theatre not to transform but reveal, and to affirm that there are always two sides to every story.

“The Prom” features scenic design by Scott Pask, costume design by Ann Roth and Matthew Pachtman, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Brian Ronan, wig and hair design by Josh Marquette, make-up design by Milagros Medina-Cerdeira, orchestrations by Larry Hochman, music direction by Meg Zervoulis, music supervision by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and casting by Telsey + Co./Bethany Knox. The Prom is based on an original concept by Jack Viertel.

“The Prom” has an open run at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street) on the following performance schedule: Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m., Thursday at 7:00 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. To purchase tickets and for more information about “The Prom,” visit https://theprommusical.com/. Running time is 2 hours and 30 minutes including intermission.

In this revival of “Thom Pain (based on nothing)” at The Pershing Square Signature Center’s Irene Diamond Stage, Will Eno steps over, under, and in between the resting places – and the writing desks – of the literary canon’s most prominent surrealist writers of the past and present. Eno seems to stop there to chat, listen, tremble (who wouldn’t), and laugh with these greats, echoes of whom cascade across the stage in a stunning performance by Michael C. Hall.

As Mr. Hall plumbs the depths of his character Thom Pain’s subconscious mind in a brilliantly dissociative narrative about civilization and its discontents (Sigmund Freud), a series of random noises and the occasional bit of fog reveal what might be the phantasmas and whispers of James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, Dorothea Tanning, Samuel Beckett, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Jorge Luis Borges, and scores of others. Mr. Hall’s Thom channels these voices as he narrates – in a fashion – two stories drenched in ethos, pathos, and logos.

Both stories are autobiographical: one chronicling Thom Pain’s horrific childhood; the other Pain’s attempts at finding a meaningful connection with a woman. The details of these narratives are not shared in a linear fashion. Bits of each intertwine with offers of raffles, perambulations through the audience, and threats of eliciting audience participation. Just as the stage has been “deconstructed” by set designer Amy Rubin, Michael C. Hall surgically deconstructs Thom Pain’s life of seeming desperation and abuse with charismatic and winsome charm that alternately embraces then shuns the members of the audience.

Director Oliver Butler allows Mr. Hall to explore every corner of the massive bare Irene Diamond Stage. Mr. Hall wanders around, disappears from, sits upon, “grooms,” and wrestles with the space just as one would explore the depth of one’s unconscious and subconscious minds. Will Eno, however, does not leave his character in the mire of humanity’s vicissitudes. Michael C. Hall pulls a chair from a storage closet, invites an audience member onto the stage, stands that member next to the chair, invites him to close his eyes, then wanders off like some J. Alfred Prufrock rehearsing “a hundred indecisions/And a hundred visions and revisions” of Thom Pain’s story.

Ultimately, like “Angels in America’s” Prior Walter, Thom Pain chooses life. He urges his onstage guest and his audience to disavow disappearance and not to acquiesce to life’s fragile trove of failed dramatic arcs, stories, or lapses of moral centering. Though touted as “based on nothing,” Thom Pain’s story is one of hopefulness and surcease from suffering. The gathered “ghosts” might approve having struggled with the existential question “Do I dare” (T. S. Eliot) and made a difference in our ability to survive.

It is not such a common occurrence that a playwright attempts to pay tribute to a living legend unless the work of that inspirational personality continues in the present as well as already being a pivotal part of history. That is why it is easy to understand the decision of Emily Mann to bring to the stage the life of the feminist activist Gloria Steinem. Under the astute direction of Diane Paulus, the two-hour multimedia piece fuses docudrama, theatre and talking circle, to review the life of Ms. Steinem but more importantly to remind the audience that in such uncertain times, the work she started is not yet done. It is not meant to preach, but to arouse and stimulate, so we may gather, communicate and understand the need for equality. It is not a resurgence but more like a recharge, taking power from one source and passing it on to another, who may then empower another, until all become enlightened, ready and able to fight until the battle is won. More so, it is steeped in reality.

We learn from the past, and when hearing and seeing what this incredible woman has accomplished, we believe and comprehend that one person can make a difference. All the highlights of her successful achievements are covered, most of what many already know from books, film and the news of the past several decades. Her undercover story as a Playboy Bunny in 1963 titled “A Bunny’s Tale” and the founder of National Woman’s Political Caucus in 1971 which subsequently led to publication of MS. Magazine are remembered. Stories about working with determined women activists such as Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan and Wilma Mankiller, the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation are informative and interesting. The script does not delve too far into Steinem’s personal life except for her early years, time at Smith College and her caregiving relationship with her mother, who suffered a nervous breakdown before she was born.

Christine Lahti who fashionably portrays the activist in trademark aviator glasses and hip hugging flared jeans is a remarkable resemblance and is a personal friend. She captures Steinem’s strength, passion, intelligence and sensitivity with ease, always truthful. She is powerful without being overbearing which brings a consciousness to the amazing ability of a humble leader. The six women in the supporting cast are totally competent, all playing multiple roles of both sexes. Projection design by Elaine J. McCarthy are pictures that bring the past to life and enhance the informative action that is happing on stage.

This is not an ordinary piece of theater but is certainly a relevant dramatic presentation, considering the power of the current Me Too movement. It is not the start of something new but rather a jumpstart to remind everyone they cannot stop fighting for equality for all, regardless of race, color or sexual orientation. Go spend a couple of hours with this inspirational revisionist, who knows it may just ignite the activist you never knew was inside you, and if that radical fire is already burning, join your brothers and sisters in celebration.

“Gloria: A Life” plays at the Daryl Roth Theatre on Union Square (101 East 15th Street at Park Avenue South) through Sunday March 31, 2019. Tickets are on sale at http://gloriatheplay.com/. Performances are Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m., Thursday at 7:00 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Running time is 2 hours without intermission.

Broadway Review: “King Kong” at the Broadway Theatre (Currently On)Book by Jack ThorneScore by Marius de VriesSongs by Eddie PerfectDirected and Choreographed by Drew McOnieReviewed by Joseph VerlezzaTheatre Reviews Limited

It is difficult to imagine that anyone would not know the story of “King Kong” since the first film release was in 1933 and many new versions being released with the most recent in 2017, as well as being broadcast on television for the first time in 1956. In 1998, The American Film Institute ranked it as #43 on the list of 100 greatest movies of all time. So now the latest incarnation is a musical with a score composed by Marius de Vries, songs by Eddie Perfect and a book by Jack Thorne, that is now on stage at the Broadway Theatre. Mr. Thorne has written the weakest part of the collaboration, but with all due respect it truly does not diminish the effort put forth since nothing new has been exposed since the original story and at its worst, some sequences are just frivolous and unnecessary. The lyrics by Mr. Perfect are a qualified effort to move the plot along in an informative way but do not sustain the dramatic arc of the piece. Mr. de Vries has composed music that captures the drama and excitement of the story but is less successful when attempting to enhance the emotional content of the character. After these three factors are considered, the realization occurs that regardless of the stature of these elements, they all pale in comparison to the enormous feat accomplished by the design, creation and operation of megaprimatus Kong.

In the words of W.C. Fields “never work with children or animals”, and in this case a puppet of a silverback gorilla that is 20 ft. tall and weighs in at over a ton. The King’s company (operators) aren’t just the visual levers of Kong; they are emotionally attached to his movement, so the audience experiences the duality of puppet and human puppeteer, keeping in sync with the ancient Japanese Bunraku principle. All the movement produced by their extremely athletic and meticulous handling must be perfectly synchronized to produce the correct emotion that matches each precise gesture. It is not a negative comment to admit that this incredible creature really does steal the show, thanks to puppet designer Jonny Tilders and movement director Gavin Robins. This is an unprecedented spectacular event that is worthy of a Broadway stage and equally supported by the scenic and projection design of Peter England, sound designer Peter Hylenski and lighting designer Peter Mumford, all of which add to the suspension of disbelief.

The actors who have taken the challenge of sharing the stage with this powerful and emotionally beautiful creature do their very best with the material they are given and end up being a great supporting cast for the gargantuan star. Eric William Morris succeeds in capturing the evil entrepreneur, (Carl Denham) being sly and cunning while exhibiting an infectious baritone. Erik Lochtefeld brings a sensibility to his character (Lumpy), without stereotype or histrionic behavior, relying more on the intellectual. Stepping into the legendary role of the Ann Darrow is a fierce Christiani Pitts, with powerful vocals, emotional dexterity and choices that elevate her relationship with Kong to a new level of understanding the complications of beauty and the beast. The entire cast is competent and executes the sometimes-frenetic choreography of director Drew McOnie with enthusiasm as the show moves along at a comfortable pace.

The question will remain in many theatergoers’ minds; is this a good Broadway musical? After much dissection the answer will probably be no. What it proves to be is a wonderful artistic achievement that surpasses expectations. One definition of “theatre” is “a presentation considered in terms of its dramatic quality”; therefore, it may be concluded that this is an acceptable and enjoyable piece of theatre. By no means is it perfect but the audience will not even care, as they are swept up by the amazing creature, who is brought to life by the hearts and souls of eleven human handlers, who enable him to speak with his fluid eyes, love with a gentle touch, show anger with powerful movement and a forceful roar and finally succumb to his hostile adversaries, only to die. Quite dramatic!

Tickets to “King Kong” are now on sale through Telecharge.com, by phone at 212-239-6200 and online at www.Telecharge.com. Tickets for groups of ten or more are available by calling 866-302-0995 or by email at info@broadwayinbound.com. For complete pricing and performance schedule, please visit https://kingkongbroadway.com/. Running time is 2 hours and 30 minutes with an intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: “India Pale Ale” at Manhattan Theatre Club’s New York City Center Stage I (Through Sunday November 18, 2018)Written by Jaclyn BackhausDirected by Will DavisReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

Jaclyn Backhaus’s “India Pale Ale” currently running at Manhattan Theatre Club’s New York City Center Stage I has a collection of “teachable moments.” Some of the lessons are rather unimportant though interesting. The audience learns the history of IPA (India Pale Ale), the hops and alcohol content of the iconic enhanced pale ale, and how at least one white hipster Tim (a lumbering and naïve Nate Miller) does not know what the “I” in “IPA” stands for. Other lessons are significantly more important. The audience learns the migratory history of Basminder “Boz” Batra (an energetic and spirited Shazi Raja) and her Punjabi family to the United States and their new home in Raymond, Wisconsin. Boz and her brother Iggy (a deeply sensitive and ebullient Sathya Sridharan) are second-generation American citizens. And the audience learns that Boz wants to leave Raymond and open a bar in nearby Madison, Wisconsin.

Boz’s wanderlust is apparently inspired by the Batra family’s mythological ancestor Brown Beard who, according to Boz’s father Sunny (an unconditionally loving and non-judgmental Alok Tewari) risked life and limb to sail beer ships back and forth between India and the United Kingdom. The theme of separation and individuation counterpoints Ms. Backhaus’s exploration of xenophobia and racism.

The most profound “teachable moment” occurs in Boz’s new bar in Madison. Tim who is white (one of two characters without a last name in the play – Lovi is the other) visits the bar and asks Boz: “What are you? Where are you from?” Failing to understand his questions not only dehumanize Boz but exemplify the worst aspects of racism, Tim continues to blunder through his introduction with alarming vacuity. Boz’s willingness to “teach” Tim is remarkable and represents the playwright’s wish that more white Americans become and stay woke.

It is unfortunate that the significant themes of “India Pale Ale” are overshadowed by the daily onslaught of disingenuous messages from what should be the source of the moral compass of a nation; namely; the current political posturing and dividedness that has fueled xenophobia, racism, misogyny, and homophobia in America whose citizenry is becoming more and more numbed by hate crime after hate crime. When her former fiancée Vishal Singh (a charming and warmhearted Nik Sadhnani) arrives in Madison to call Boz back to Raymond to respond to a family tragedy, the audience at the performance I attended had experienced within seventy-two hours three horrific hate crimes in the United States.

The play itself also bears responsibility for disengagement from its thematic development. The “pirate” trope is overused: the scene with the cast clad in Arnulfo Maldonado’s splendid pirate costumes seems overlong and overwrought and provides little payoff. Additionally, the intra-family dysfunction (engagements, the breaking of engagements, inter-personal disrepair) distract from the primary dramatic arc.

That said, “India Pale Ale” remains a stalwart attempt to “see” and “understand” and to stay woke to the social injustices extant just outside (and most likely within) the doors of the theater. The cast “breaks bread” with the audience in a special way at the play’s end. This sharing befits catharsis and emulation.

“India Pale Ale” runs at Manhattan Theatre Club’s New York City Center Stage I (131 West 55th Street) through Sunday November 18, 2018. Tickets for “India Pale Ale” can be purchased online at www.nycitycenter.org, by calling CityTix at 212-581-1212, or by visiting the New York City Center box office (131 West 55th Street). For more information, please visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com. Running time is 2 hours with one intermission.

Loneliness, the quest for authentic and meaningful love, the fear of rejection, the need for respect, and the excruciating separation from situations of abuse are not unique to members of the LGBTQ+ community of any decade or location, and perhaps that is why audiences have responded positively to Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy” since its Broadway production in 1982 at New York’s Little Theatre (the Helen Hayes). Harvey Fierstein’s adaptation currently running at Second Stage’s Helen Hayes Theater is titled “Torch Song:” it is staged in two acts with Arnold’s (an emotive and transparent Michael Urie) soliloquy and the original act names intact. Four hours have been trimmed down to two hours and forty-five minutes.

The characters and their conflicts are familiar – even more familiar than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. And the plots and subplots driven by their conflicts are even more recognizable. Scenes in The International Stud (Act I), Fugue in a Nursery (Act II), and Widows and Children First (Act III) chronicle Arnold’s yearning for love (and family), his falling in love with Ed (a vulnerable and unnerved Ward Horton), the “straight” man who is dating Arnold and Laurel (an astute and strong Roxanna Hope Radja) concurrently, his significant relationship with Alan (an ebullient and confident Michael Hsu Rosen), his adopted son David (a deeply sensitive and trusting Jack DiFalco), and his confrontation with his possessive mother Mrs. Beckoff (a possessive and disquieting Mercedes Ruehl). Michael Urie tenderly and authentically portrays these stages in Arnold’s quest for acceptance and meaningful relationships.

The action of the truncated trilogy spans Arnold’s years in New York City from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. In Act I, the extended phone conversation between Arnold and Ed is awkward: the dialogue seems worn and overwrought. Conversely, Mr. Horton delivers a compelling account of his suicide dream/attempt. Act II, Fugue in a Nursery, is energetic and well-directed by Moisés Kaufman. Reminiscent of a scene in Sondheim’s “Company,” the act moves briskly and allows the actors to explore their formidable comedic skills. Sadly, the act also highlights all sorts of infidelity and chicanery too often associated with the LGBTQ+ community and raises an enduring and rich questions: Why do members of the LGBTQ+ family respond so positively (standing ovations) to theatre that portrays its members in less than affirmative qualities? Are we simply grateful to have plays that deal with LGBTQ+ themes or should we expect more?

Act III, Widows and Children First is uneven. Ms. Ruehl delivers a robust Mrs. Beckoff; unfortunately, Arnold’s mother is a despicable and selfish character that Arnold should not need to include in his new understanding of elective family. The highlights of this Act are the deeply moving and authentically performed scenes between Arnold and David and Jack. Michael Urie, Jack DiFalco, and Ward Horton bring exuberant hopefulness and genuine affection to their characters and successfully define Harvey Fierstein’s vision of the “new American family.” The ending of the play, despite Arnold’s pressing all that sustains (and challenges) him against his chest, provides less than a satisfying catharsis.

Under Mr. Kaufman’s careful direction, the members of cast deliver believable performances despite the stereotypical traits of each character. David Zinn’s sparse, elevated, and movable set is functional and appropriate. Clint Ramos’s costumes are period perfect. David Lander’s lighting adds significantly to the mood of the piece and does John Gromada’s sound design.

There are times when the characters border on situation comedy stock figures. This occurs predominantly in Act III after Mrs. Beckoff arrives on the scene. The conversations – mostly the arguments – between Mrs. Beckoff and Arnold reek of situation comedy. This is unfortunate, because it is in these encounters that Mr. Fierstein’s argument for Arnold’s independence and separation and individuation from his abusive mother are meant to be resolved. It is difficult to discern whether this misfortune is the result of Mr. Kaufman’s direction or Mr. Fierstein’s writing although the latter would be the most likely choice. The tone here is transparently Fierstein and perhaps the autobiographical nature of the piece unburdens here.

The journey to achieving Arnold’s commendable goals is a universal one as are the hopes and dreams of the characters in “Torch Song.” One wishes for even more relevant themes for the LGBTQ+ community in the first half of the twenty-first century.

TORCH SONG

“Torch Song” features Michael Urie as Arnold Beckoff and Mercedes Ruehl as Mrs. Beckoff, as well as Jack DiFalco as David, Ward Horton as Ed, Roxanna Hope Radja as Laurel, and Michael Hsu Rosen as Alan.

“Torch Song” features scenic design by David Zinn; costume design by Clint Ramos; lighting design by David Lander; sound design by John Gromada; hair design by Charles G. LaPointe; make-up design by Joe Dulude II; and casting by Telsey + Company. Production photos by Joan Marcus.

“Torch Song” plays at Second Stage’s Helen Hayes Theater (240 West 44th Street) on the following schedule: Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., Thursday at 7:00 p.m., Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. For further information and to purchase tickets, please visit https://torchsongbroadway.com/ or call 212-239-6200. Running time is 2 hours and 45 minutes with a 15-minute intermission.

Rooms full of missed opportunities sprawl across Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theatre where Steven Levenson’s new play “Days of Rage” is running through November 2018. Mr. Levenson, the award-winning book-writer of “Dear Evan Hansen, tackles the important issues of nationalism, xenophobia, and racism against the backdrop of a radical collective of three friends protesting the “atrocities” of the Vietnam War. The time is October 1969 and Spence (an intense yet vulnerable Mike Faist), Jenny (a devoted and lonesome Lauren Patten), and Quinn (an unbridled and combative Odessa Young) share a ramshackle old house in upstate New York where they espouse the tenets of Lenin, Marx, and Engels and are engaged in recruiting other anti-war advocates to join them in a road trip to Chicago where an estimated twenty-five thousand will gather to rage against the war, the President, and the establishment.

The collective’s fragile matrix of relationships – a trio of fractured and dysfunctional open pairings – is further threatened by the arrival of Hal (a sensitive and compelling J. Alphonse Nicholson) and Peggy (an eccentric and intrusive Tavi Gevinson). Hal meets Jenny outside of the Sears store where he works and where Jenny is distributing leaflets for the Chicago “rally.” Hal’s boss has given him ten minutes to convince Jenny to leave before the police arrive. Peggy meets Spence in a coffee shop and convinces him to welcome her into the collective – her two thousand dollars is badly needed for rent, utilities, and the cause. Hal’s connection with Jenny is believable and provides an interesting subplot. Peggy’s initial connection with Spence is not believable and provides a predictable and uninteresting subplot.

Like any family system, the strength of the collective dissolves with the addition of the new members. Hal’s “baby brother” is serving in the Army in Vietnam and his romantic friendship with Jenny and his challenges to the collective’s racism and apparent loyalty to the Vietcong shatters the crackled veneer of loyalty and commitment that presume to exist in the collective. Peggy is deceitful, dishonest, and carrying a secret that eventually disarms the collective and separates its members and dissolves the integrity of its mission. Peggy and the mystery of the toothpaste heiress cannot be further parsed without a spoiler alert.

The parallels between the Vietnam era and the current political tribulations in America are compelling though obvious in nature. The three stories within the main narrative are related in twenty short scenes with blackouts in between. Unfortunately, the subplots do more to dilute the impact of “Days of Rage” than to strengthen it. Under Trip Cullman’s direction and with the support of the talented creative team, the cast is uniformly excellent. They develop their characters and their characters’ conflicts with authenticity. Mr. Levenson’s themes succeed in challenging the audience’s complacency; however, the Vietnam tropes (napalm, bombs, political chicanery, etc.) could have been more fully developed.

Perhaps Quinn’s closing “prediction” to Spence in Chicago is the most impressive and alarming: “The world gets bad. And then it gets worse. The Vietnam War doesn’t end for another six years. Nixon gets reelected in a landslide. The Left loses power all over the world for the next fifty years.” Living at the expiration of those fifty-some years is not comfortable and hope wanes. If “Days of Rage” makes that clear, then it is a success. All other goings on in the ramshackle house can be forgiven.

The creative team for “Days of Rage” includes settings by Louisa Thompson, costumes by Paloma Young, lighting by Tyler Micoleau, and sound by Darron L. West.

“Days of Rage” runs at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd Street at 8th Avenue) through Sunday, November 25. For more information on “Day of Rage,” including performance schedule and to purchase tickets, visit https://2st.com/. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: “What the Constitution Means to Me” at New York Theatre Workshop (Through Sunday November 4, 2018)By Heidi SchreckDirected by Oliver ButlerReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

After greeting the audience at New York Theatre Workshop, playwright Heidi Schreck introduces her play “What the Constitution Means to Me” as follows: “When I was 15 years old, I travelled the country giving speeches about the Constitution at American Legion halls for prize money. This was a scheme invented by my mom, who was a debate coach, to help me pay for college.” For ninety minutes, Ms. Schreck rehearses those speeches not for prize money but to remind the audience that the Constitution has been less protective of human rights than its drafters intended and to warn the audience that the main culprit in this diminution of protection is the Supreme Court of the United States.

This is a daunting (and daring) suggestion. To prove her point, the adult Heidi morphs (non-physically) into her fifteen-tear-old self to deliver her speech “Casting Spells: The Crucible of the Constitution” to the “audience of older— mostly white— men” at the American Legion Hall in Wenatchee, Washington and to the somewhat more diverse audience at New York Theatre Workshop where “What the Constitution Means to Me” runs through Sunday November 4, 2018. Ms. Schreck transitions between past and present, between her fifteen-year-old self and her adult self. This convention allows her to both focus on the speech and on her feelings about the Constitution “then and now.”

The “grit” of Ms. Schreck’s play comes when Heidi “draws an amendment from a can, in full view of the audience and has to speak extemporaneously on this amendment.” Ms. Schreck’s husband Mike Iveson plays the role of the American Legion moderator “Mike.” After parsing Amendment Nine (“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”) in her speech, Heidi pulls Amendment Fourteen Section One from the can for the second part of her challenge.

Amendment Fourteen, Section One states “All persons born or naturalized in the United States andsubject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” In an electrifying performance, Ms. Schreck ricochets between decade and generations to describe how this Amendment has been interpreted since its adoption on July 9, 1868 as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. “Interpreted” here means more than mere jurisprudence: it means degraded, misconstrued, mis-applied resulting in the erosion of human rights over the years since 1868.

This is a challenging play and an important one. Directed by Oliver Butler, Ms. Schreck uses every tool of rhetorical argument to make her case and leaves the audience members wondering: “where have we been as our rights have been threatened and how much more will the High Court diminish those rights in the present and future. Discoursing on both the Ninth and the Fourteenth Amendments, the playwright and performer dissects the history of Roe v. Wade and how that decision affected her life and her family history.

“What the Constitution Means to Me” closes with Heidi debating with a NYC High School student Rosdely Ciprian and then spending time answering preselected audience questions to become better acquainted. This part of the play is less satisfying than the first and lessens the impact of that beginning. Overall, “What the Constitution Means to Me” is a chilling reminder of the importance of being an informed citizenry. Reading the Constitution of the United States is the first step. A copy is provided to each audience member. Let the learning begin.

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME

The cast for “What the Constitution Means to Me” includes Heidi Schreck, Mike Iveson, and New York City high school student Rosdely Ciprian.

“What the Constitution Means to Me” runs at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003) through Sunday November 4, 2018) on the following performance schedule: Tuesday- Thursday at 7:00 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Single tickets for “What the Constitution Means to Me” start at $35.00 and vary by performance date and time. For further information, visit https://www.nytw.org/. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

Broadway Review: “The Lifespan of a Fact” at Studio 54 (Currently On)Written by Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon FarrellDirected by Leigh SilvermanReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

Emily Penrose (a guarded and steely Cherry Jones), Editor-in Chief of a high-end publication, hopes to score big on the publication of a “lyrical essay” written by longtime associate John D’Agata (a languid and tenderly resilient Bobby Cannavale). She has shut down the presses and pulled the story about “Congressional Spouses” to publish the essay about the suicide of a young man in Las Vegas. And she is hoping this essay will boost magazine sales and continue to secure her position as a successful editor. Because she is aware that John often ignores the importance of facts, she hires the new intern Jim Fingal (a self-absorbed and cautious Daniel Radcliffe) to fact-check the essay before publication. He agrees he can fulfill the assignment over an extended weekend.

What ensues is a triumvirate of well-positioned “leaders” each having the ability to upend the other two members’ goals. Although the intriguing script focus primarily on Jim’s dogged fact-finding and John’s stubborn insistence that art trumps facts, there are significant themes centering on motivation, power, dominance, entitlement, and rhetorical argument. “The Lifespan of a Fact,” currently running at Studio 54, raises more enduring question than it answers – which is expected with three raconteurs vying for dominion.

John is a storyteller. He tells stories that he believes are relevant and connect to the readers and to the moment in history in which they live and try to navigate through with some modicum of success. He believes his essay about Levi Presley’s death is important as are the other events that transpired on the same day in Las Vegas. “On that day in Las Vegas when Levi Presley died, five others died from two types of cancer, four from heart attacks, three because of strokes. It was a day of two suicides by gunshot as well as a suicide from hanging.” That is John’s story and he is sticking to it.

Jim is a fact checker. Emily assigns him to check the facts in John’s essay to avoid law suits and maintain the credibility of her magazine. Jim cannot seem to get beyond the first few paragraphs. He creates one-hundred-and-thirty pages of spreadsheet and “notes” that call into question John’s credibility. Emily encourages Jim to understand that “we live in stories. Events organized to make ourselves known to each other and to history. Organized in a way that gives our lives meaning.” Jim believes the word “story comes from the Greek historia – an accurate retelling” and continues to question whether John has reported the correct numbers of deaths on the day Levi died.

In one corner it is the importance of and necessity for facts: in the other is the importance of and necessity for rich and enduring stories that are transformative and redemptive. The battle rages with Emily attempting to referee the fight. Both she and Jim end up in Las Vegas with John and the struggle for a resolution escalates. At one point, Jim determines that Levi Presley did not even exist despite John’s insistence that he shared the essay with Levi’s mother Gail. John said, “this is my best” and she said, “this is my son.” The obvious connection to the current debate concerning the place of truth in politics plays well in “The Lifespan of a Fact.” The playwrights develop their argument carefully and with the requisite logos, ethos, and pathos.

Under Leigh Silverman’s exquisite direction, the cast delivers a profoundly moving ensemble performance that insists the audience make the ultimate choice whether Emily will publish the essay. Fact and fiction have significant roles to play in humankind’s story telling. It has become strikingly evident in the last two years, however, that fiction has no place in the development of global policy-making and domestic governance. The jury is still out on whether “Levi climbed the fence and sat on the ledge for 48 seconds, then jumped.” John argues that “It is not a crime to try to find the music in a boy’s life.” Jim counters “people’s lives aren’t chord progressions you can rearrange at will.”

“The Lifespan of a Fact” is currently on Broadway at Studio 54 (254 W 54th Street). For more information about the show including performance schedule and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.lifespanofafact.com/. Running time is 1 hour and 35 minutes without intermission. Photo: Daniel Radcliffe in “The Lifespan of a Fact.” Credit: Peter Cunningham.

“We are stardust, we are golden/We are billion-year-old carbon/And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.” (“Woodstock” by Joni Mitchell)

Jomama is the performer and alter ego of Daniel Alexander Jones who created the production “Black Light” now playing at Greenwich House Theater after a successful run at Joe’s Pub. She is a soul sonic superstar and when she speaks of a supernova the audience better listen up because her presence personifies the definition of that phenomenon perfectly. She is a star that suddenly increases in brightness until she explodes ejecting masses of stardust that fills the hearts and minds of the audience, so they may be able to get themselves back to the garden. In this explosion the mold that has tried to form our identity and control decisions is shattered and you are left at a crossroad which can determine who you really are and where you want to be. Don’t misconstrue, Jomama is not a preacher or a politician, but a revelation, clad in fabulous fashion delivering her message with soulful songs that embrace you with a warm understanding of life as it is.

She asks if we could be a witness, not just a passive observer but a living witness, “which means you take responsibility for what you see.” So, if you are willing to observe, see what is happening, you must react. Listening to stories, vividly describing events happening down South about her Aunt Cleotha, will captivate your imagination as you visualize the experience as if you were there. The memories not only conjure up a great deal of emotion but teach lessons that will possibly allow us to see just a little better in the “Black Light.” She asks that we hold hands with someone in the audience you do not know, close your eyes, so you may feel the universe, full of triumphs and faults. Then still holding hands, you open your eyes and there is the “harsh light, when all of our faults and our fears and our failings are visible .” We survive until the future light when we can “See Things as They Are”.

Jomama is accompanied by her incredible four-piece ensemble and two extremely wordly vocalists, Trevor Bachman and Vuyo Sotashe by her side. Their mere presence is an uplifting support and their voices fill the air with an eerie hope. At one point, Jomama addresses the supernova as a star at the end of its life cycle.

“But I wonder, if something must die in order for some new thing to be born. Something like, say, an idea - an idea about ourselves, an idea about each other, the way that we relate to one another, maybe an idea that moves beyond all the categories, the boxes we like to put one another in, maybe even an idea as unwieldy, and contradictory, as the idea of a nation?”

When you leave the theater what you realize is that the time you experienced with Jomama may be over, in a sense it has died, but be reassured that something was certainly born, for many will begin to see what has always been right front of them, and proudly bear witness.

“Black Light” runs at Greenwich House Theater (27 Barrow Street) through Monday, December 31, 2018. For the schedule of performances and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.nycblacklight.com/. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

It is clear from the start of Donja R. Love’s “Fireflies” that Olivia Grace (DeWanda Wise) is among the disconsolate: Olivia is languishing: Olivia’s wounded heart needs healing. There is a fire in Olivia’s soul that counterpoints the fire in the 1963 Fall sky above the home in the Jim Crow South she shares with her preacher-activist husband Charles Emmanuel Grace (Khris Davis). The first words Olivia shares are those from a letter she is writing to the yet unidentified Ruby: “Dear Ruby, It’s been awhile. The sky . . . it’s been burning so bright since you left. It reminds me of you.” And at this point the stage of the Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater reverberates with the sounds of exploding bombs as the sky “cracks open and bleeds.” Olivia admits, “I can’t do this.”

Determining what it is Olivia can no longer do is the rich grit of Mr. Love’s engaging new play as is understanding in a deep way what it is Olivia is quite capable of doing. She writes all her husband’s sermons that he delivers in Alabama and elsewhere, assuring Charles is “out doing what [he] is supposed to be doing.” She schedules his appearances and reminds him of his itinerary. She surrenders to his needs and discounts her own needs. What she can no longer do is bring to term a baby she is not sure she wants. What she can no longer do is remain in an unfulfilling marriage to an unfaithful spouse. What she can no longer do is suppress her Queer identity that Ruby – unawares – has disclosed to Olivia after one meeting and has prompted Olivia to write hundreds of love letters which he carefully hides from Charles under a floorboard in the bedroom.

Mr. Love confesses Olivia’s growth and Charles’ emotional decline in language brimming with tropes. The extended metaphors of ‘bombs’ and ‘fireflies’ are carefully developed as they morph into internal dialogue from external threat. Just how that develops is thrilling to listen to and see. For Olivia, her husband’s death (Suicide? Car bomb?) becomes electrifyingly redemptive and sacrificial. Her ability to shift from sermon writer to mesmerizing preacher is a profoundly transformative moment in “Fireflies.” It is difficult not to step into the role of exhorter as Ms. Wise’s Olivia fires up her congregation after returning from Charles’ extended funeral service.

Olivia learns to love herself: to love the choices she makes about her body, her relationships, her sexuality, and her future. Olivia is also determined not to allow her history, nor the history of the Civil Rights Movement to be erased from America’s history. This theme explored in Suzan-Lori Parks’ “The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World” is echoed in a unique way by Mr. Love in his “Fireflies” the second installment in Mr. Love’s trilogy of The Love* Plays. In his April 10, 2017 article in “The Lark,” Donja R. Love writes, “The existence of Queer people of color, particularly of African descent, has repeatedly been washed over, or forgotten altogether.” Olivia is not about to be forgotten: neither will the bombs that killed people of color be forgotten.

DeWanda Wise and Khris Davis are electrifying in their roles as Olivia and Charles. Under Saheem Ali’s poignant and surgically precise direction, Ms. Wise and Mr. Davis explore every nerve, every synapse, every heretofore unexplored thought, every previously unanticipated action of their complex characters. Ms. Wise’s Olivia allows herself to grow despite cultural and marital roadblocks. And although it might be more challenging for Mr. Davis to accept his character’s “trifling, forgitful and lowdown” ways (from Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple”), the actor successfully stands up to the protagonist’s explosive spiritual and psychological development. Olivia’s ability to love and her awareness that her child needs to grow up knowing she is God are powerful expressions of her recovered ego strength and self-awareness.

Alex Basco Koch’s meteoric projections and Justin Ellington’s brooding sound and original music fill and surround Arnulfo Maldonado’s stunning open set. David Weiner lights this set with mood-specific pools of wondrous color. And Dede Ayite’s costumes bristle with the sensibility expressed in each scene of the play.

This is not an Everyman’s tale: this is the saga of the Black and Brown and Black-and-Brown-Queer people who continue to experience race-fueled violence at the hands of systemic white racism. This is a tale that needs to ne heard, needs to be reiterated, and needs to find as many other iterations as possible. Olivia preaches, “Our assignment is to fly! We have to fly – as high as we possibly can. We have to soar because the higher we are the better we’ll be at making this world a brighter place.” Donja R. Love’s “Fireflies” takes that assignment seriously and succeeds brilliantly.

“Fireflies” runs at Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues) through Sunday November 11, 2018 on the following performance schedule: Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.; Wednesday – Saturday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.; Sunday evening performance at 7:00 p.m. on 10/21; Wednesday afternoon performances at 2:00 p.m. on 10/24, 10/31, and 11/7. Tickets for “Fireflies” at $65.00 are available online at www.atlantictheater.org, by calling OvationTix at 866-811-4111, or in person at the Linda Gross Theater box office. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: “Midnight at the Never Get” at York Theatre Company (Through Sunday November 4, 2018)

Photo: Jeremy Cohen and Sam Bolen in “Midnight at the Never Get” at York Theatre Company. Credit: Carol Rosegg.

Off-Broadway Review: “Midnight at the Never Get” at York Theatre Company (Through Sunday November 4, 2018)Book, Music, and Lyrics by Mark SonnenblickCo-Conceived by Sam BolenDirected by Max FriedmanReviewed by Joseph VerlezzaTheatre Reviews Limited

The latest offering at York Theater Company’s Main Stage Series is the new musical “Midnight at the Never Get.” The production history started with a successful short run at New York’s historical “Don’t Tell Mama” cabaret, and then a run at NYMF in 2016. Subsequently it had a six-week 2017 run at Provincetown Inn, Massachusetts and returned to Provincetown for a weekend engagement last month. So, in can be assumed that the book, music and lyrics by Mark Sonnenblick should be solid and the performance by Sam Bolen, who co-conceived the story and has performed in every production, should be cultivated and polished.

Mr. Sonnenblick’s musical compositions are indeed a fine representation of the era and The Great American Songbook, along with lyrics that are smart, sometimes witty, and turn sentimental during some sultry ballads. The obvious problem is that they were written for a cabaret performance and really do no address the task of character development or moving the plot forward. This required responsibility is left to the somewhat confusing and weak book that does not fare well, filled with every conceivable tragic blemish and stereotype in Gay history. Confused straight men who are closeted, flamboyant and campy behavior, the Stonewall uprising, the AIDS crisis, Gay men getting married, self-loathing, denial and delusion. Yes, it all happened, but gay life was not all dismal and cataclysmic. There is no trace of the positive to be found in this profoundly melancholic story.

The story starts in the 1960s and revolves around the gay relationship of Trevor, (Sam Bolen), a flamboyant singer and Arthur (Jeremy Cohen), a sedate songwriter. Their relationship is a bumpy ride with Trevor being aloof and delusional, following the lead of gay activists and Arthur being a controlled realist and somewhat closeted. Arthur is very talented, writing exceptional songs for Trevor who cannot sing them as well as much of the competition, which leads to an unpleasant breakup. Trevor is deceased and appears to be in a sort of purgatory waiting for Arthur to join him since he has just passed. Trevor tells the saga of their past, with a distorted view of himself as a remarkable entertainer, rather than the mediocre songster he had been. This version of the story and cabaret performance is what the audience experiences through his fallacious memory.

The cast is ever so competent, with Mr. Bolen (Trevor Copeland) plowing through the thirteen songs with ease and a strong vocal prowess, as he is accompanied by the proficient Jeremy Cohen on piano, leading an excellent five-piece band. Although Mr. Bolen’s performance is fine, it appears to be overly melodramatic and animated – even though it is how he wants to see himself – as opposed to who he really is in this memory play. Mr. Cohen is more down to earth and believable, resulting in a steady, solid turn as the Pianist and Arthur. Choreographer Andrew Palermo has made sure Mr. Bolen moves with a flair like Judy Garland. Director Max Friedman moves the evening along but needs to pull in the reins on the histrionic performances putting more depth into the characters to support the suspension of disbelief.

Although the events chronicled in this fictional narrative are accurate in the scope of gay history, it is a somewhat exaggerated depiction of homosexuals, relying on exposing their tragic lifestyle and never exploring positive situations, conduct, behavior or mores. It is an entertaining evening of cabaret but falls a bit short as a full-fledged theatrical production.

MIDNIGHT AT THE NEVER GET

The cast of “Midnight at the Never Get” features Sam Bolen, Jeremy Cohen, and Jon J. Peterson.

“Midnight at The Never Get” runs through Sunday November 4, 2018 at the York Theatre at Saint Peter’s (Citicorp Building, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue). Tickets are priced at $67.50 - $72.50 and may be purchased by calling (212) 935-5820 online at www.yorktheatre.org, or in person at the box office at the York Theatre. Running time is 85 minutes without intermission.

Photo: Jeremy Cohen and Sam Bolen in “Midnight at the Never Get” at York Theatre Company. Credit: Carol Rosegg.

Kudos to the team of women (all women!) that wrote, directed, performed in, and filled all positions in the creative team for “Hitler’s Tasters” currently running at IRT Theater. The play examines the conflicts of the fifteen German young women who were conscripted to be Hitler’s tasters. They were initially transported daily to and from a school to fulfill their task of “defending the Motherland.” After a threat on Hitler’s life, they were permanently confined in a building adjacent to Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair headquarters in Prussia. The sole real-life survivor of this group of young women Margot Woelk has documented this “footnote in history” extensively before her death in 2014.

Although the young women (Hallie Griffin, MaryKathryn Kopp, Kaitlin Paige Longoria, and Hannah Mae Sturges) are dressed in period clothing – there are several costume changes – they have cell phones, take selfies, like contemporary music (Madonna), imagine Hitler sings like a “rock star,” and behave in a thoroughly modern way. They bicker about the vegetarian food, the lack of visits from the Führer and his German Shepherd Blondi, and often behave much like “mean girls.” Although their behavior seems contemporary, their weltanschauung is decidedly Deutschland. Their conversations are sprinkled with anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and anti-American sentiments.

The ensemble cast latches onto Michelle Kholos Brooks’s script with passionate zeal and each member delivers authentic and believable performances. Unfortunately, the script does not afford them the freedom to explore their characters more deeply. The audience get a sense of what these young women think and feel about tasting food for Hitler and then waiting an hour to see if they will die or not; however, there is no deep angst here, no existential fear, no sense of deep loss. Tasters come and go without much dread or disconsolation. The playwright’s choice to develop the conflicts of the young women through and anachronistic lens might diminish the cathartic experience in the dramatic arc.

The connections between time periods is obvious and quite impactful. Sexism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, misogyny, and abuse (sexual, physical, and psychological) continue into the present as does imperialism, white supremacy, and oligarchy. Some choices made by director Sarah Norris seem to diminish the striking parallelism between the present and the pre and postwar Germany. Why isn’t the playwright’s idea of the back of the guard utilized? Having one of the cast members portray the intrusiveness of a male would be more powerful than sound and light indicating the presence of the guards. And why is another young woman thrown into the room at the end of the play? This is not included in the script. It is apparent that past and present not only conspire to repeat dysfunction and horror: it is also apparent that both generations are caught in Sisyphean tasks that leave populations disconsolate and wounded of heart.

“Hitler’s Tasters” is also a gripping extended metaphor for how women who have been victims of sexual violence carry lifelong cultural shame that prevents them from coming forward to tell their important stories in an environment of male suspicion and doubt. Under Sarah Norris’s exacting direction, the brilliant ensemble cast carries this perennial weight with enormous grace and determination.

The all-female design team includes An-lin Dauber (scenic design); Christina Tang (lighting design); Ashleigh Poteat (costume design); and Carsen Joenk (sound design). The choreographer is Ashlee Wasmund. The fight choreographer is Frances Ramos. Line produced by Alyssa May Gold. The technical director is ToniAnne DiFilippo. The Production Stage Manager is Lindsey Hurley.

“Hitler’s Tasters” runs for a limited engagement through Saturday, October 27th at IRT Theater (154 Christopher Street, between Greenwich and Washington Streets) on the following performance schedule: Wednesday – Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Please note there is an added performance on Monday, October 22 at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $25.00. To purchase tickets, visit www.newlighttheaterproject.com. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” – Howard Campbell

Howard Campbell’s (an even tempered and soft-spoken Gabriel Grilli) non-linear journey from Nazi Germany’s radio propaganda machine in World War II to his self-execution in 1961 is the subject of The Custom Made Theatre Company’s “Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night,” currently running at 59E59 Theaters. Adapted from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel by the company’s Founding Artistic Director, the play begins with the forty-eight-year-old Campbell in an Israeli prison in Old Jerusalem awaiting trial for his collusion with the Nazis. Vonnegut’s forty-five short chapters are distilled successfully into Brian Katz’s seven “Tracks.”

The play ends in the same prison where Campbell learns of his impending release and his decision to be the sole judge of his future. Between these first and seventh Tracks, Campbell discloses how he arrived in Germany, how he became affiliated with both the Nazi Party and with Wirtanen (an intense and secretive Andrea Gallo) an American intelligence operative who convinces him to be an American spy. Campbell lives this double life as a Nazi propagandist and a spy who uses his pro-Third Reich broadcasts to filter important information to the Allies. He never quite comes to terms with his “pretending” and the results of his actions.

Campbell provides considerable exposition in his narrative, including his early history, how he met his wife Helga (a seductive and manipulative Trish Lindstrom), how he lived in Greenwich Village for fifteen years following the war, and how he ended up in an Israeli prison. The narrative includes a variety of characters significant in his journey, all played by the ensemble cast – from those who guarded him in prison to those who “hunted him down” in the United States.

Although Mr. Katz’s stage adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Mother Night” is faithful to the 1962 novel, it cannot remove the difficulties of the original text, including the novel’s lapses of believability. It would seem implausible that Campbell did not recognize that the “returned” Helga is her sister Resi. But the difficulty with this “Mother Night” is not the adequate adaptation, but the glaring inability of the cast to consistently deliver believable and authentic performances. Andrea Gallo delivers a solid portrayal of Wirtanen (and the other characters she portrays) and Trish Lindstrom’s Helga and Resi are also believable; however, the rest of the well-qualified cast oddly deliver performances that portray their characters as flat or as less than interesting caricatures. Without being behind the scenes, it is difficult not to assume that Mr. Katz’s direction is somewhat responsible for this predicament.

Daniel Bilodeau’s sparse set serves as prison, Greenwich Village apartment, other apartments, a rooftop, and other locations. The set is adequately lighted by Adam Gearhart and Zoë Allen provides period appropriate costumes.

“Mother Night’s” themes are as important in the present as they were when Vonnegut wrote the novel. It is remarkable how relevant the important issues of white supremacism, anti-Semitism, oligarchy, fascism, xenophobia, lack of personal integrity, and prevarication continue to erode the hallmarks of democracy. Frightening is perhaps a better adjective. The Custom Made Theatre Company is to be commended for bringing “Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night” to 59E59 Theaters. One wishes the performances and direction could have been more kind to the adaptation.

“Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night” runs at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues) for a limited engagement through Sunday, November 3 on the following performance schedule: Tuesday – Friday at 7:15 p.m.; Saturday at 2:15 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.; Sunday at 2:15 p.m. Single tickets are $25.00 - $35.00 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org. Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes with one ten-minute intermission.

Regional Review: “Pamela’s First Musical” at Two River Theater (Through Sunday October 7, 2018)Book by Wendy Wasserstein and Christopher DurangMusic by Cy ColemanLyrics by David ZippelDirected and Choreographed by Graciela DanieleReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

The familiar phrase “Everything old is new again” is a perfect way to describe the current production at the delightful Two River Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey. It is an old-fashioned musical comedy featuring music by the legendary Cy Coleman with a book written by the brilliant playwrights, Wendy Wasserstein and Christopher Durang, entitled “Pamela’s First Musical.” It is truly a tribute to the masters who pay homage to their profession and community by creating a show about musical theater. The story is based on the children’s book by Ms. Wasserstein with Mr. Durang joining the creative team at Two River to complete and polish the book for the musical. Graciela Daniele takes the helm as director and choreographer for this world premiere production and she was the original choice by Mr. Coleman and Ms. Wasserstein, who are now sadly missed but remain icons of the American Theater.

The story revolves around a precocious eleven-year-old with a vivid imagination and a dream of becoming an acknowledged member of the Broadway theater community. She has an Aunt Louise, who is a wealthy fashion designer in New York City, that swoops in on her motor scooter to rescue her from her dreadful Birthday breakfast and tales her to see her first big Broadway musical. They lunch at Sardi’s, meet the stars backstage and watches the show from the producer’s box as all the while her imagination runs wild. All’s well that ends well, as in all great musical comedy. It is great wholesome family entertainment.

The music is reminiscent of Mr. Coleman’s earlier work but somewhat less vibrant and interesting. Although displaying varied styles, it does not provide much energy for the cast. Lyrics by David Zippel provide sufficient exposition and move the lost plot along slowly. Both lyrics and music serve ballads more sufficiently than the upbeat or production numbers. Choreography by Ms. Danielle is quite pedestrian revolving mostly around simple time steps and routine jazz. Sets by David Gallo and Viveca Gardiner are colorful, splashy and take on a fantastical theme. The small eight-piece orchestra led by Gregory J. Dlugos is excellent giving the feel of a big musical.

The cast is competent, doing what they can but cannot transcend the mediocre book. There are times that stereotypical behavior diminishes characterization and is a deterrent to the sincerity of the story.It appears that many elements are fighting between reality and fantasy resulting in contradictions that distract from the imaginative theme of the production. Just when you expect more, you are given less. Still it is a joy anytime you can see Broadway veterans Carolee Carmello, Howard McGillin, Michael Mulheren and David Garrison take the stage.

Two River Theater has brought a pleasant musical that possibly could have been kept a secret to the stage for audiences of all ages to enjoy. It is not perfect but is certainly worth a visit for an entertaining evening of regional theater.

The creative team includes music director Gregory J. Dlugos, orchestrator Charlie Rosen, scenic designers David Gallo and Viveca Gardiner, costume designer Gabriel Berry, lighting designer David Lander, and sound designer Drew Levy. The casting is by Tara Rubin Casting. The production stage manager is Lori M. Doyle and the assistant stage manager is James Steele.

Ticket prices range from $40.00 to $70,00, with discounts available for groups, seniors, and U.S. military personnel, their families, and veterans. A limited number of $20.00 tickets are available for every performance; $20.00 tickets may be partial view. Tickets for patrons under 30 are $20.00 and include the best available seats at every performance. Tickets are available from www.tworivertheater.org or 732-345-1400.

Given the long-term relationship that existed between A.R. Gurney and Primary Stages, it is befitting that the prolific playwright requested his agent to send his newest one act play “Final Follies” to the theater company for production in 2017. It turned out to be ominously and aptly titled since he passed soon after, leaving this to be the last play of his legacy in the American Theater. Mr. Gurney was heralded as one of the most astute chroniclers of WASP culture, both heralding and ridiculing their traditions, to achieve fresh revelations in the current socio-political atmosphere. The first production of Primary Stages 2018/2019 season is a tryptic of three one acts, the first being “Final Follies,” followed by “The Rape of Bunny Stuntz” which comprises the first act and “The Love Course” which stands alone in act two.

The first piece “Final Follies” deals with Nelson, a complete failure on the employment scene, a privileged male supported by his wealthy Grandfather who raised him but the good-looking brother in the family. His latest escapade is aspiring to become a porn star even though he professes to be shy. Although this short one act may address the sexual repression that may exist in this culture it does not explore what motivates the characters. When asked why he wants to act in adult films by the interviewer and former leading lady, who he falls in love with, he replies “money.”

The evening then moves on to “The Rape of Bunny Stuntz” an early work from 1965, which is a bit darker and deals with the hidden desires of the perfect suburban matron who is chairing a civic meeting which falls apart when she is confronted by an offstage, socially undesirable male who claims to know her intimately. She surrenders to her sexual desires, abandons her civic duties and realizes that the masquerade of her life was empty. This play was the first attempt of Mr. Gurney to create a role for the audience becoming a passive partner in the events and proceedings that take place. Neither of these pieces in the first act come close to the wit and satire audiences are accustomed too when viewing the playwrights well known works.

In act two “The Love Course” from 1969 is the most entertaining part of the evening, filled with exaggerated characters and unrealistic circumstances. It is a play about two colleagues teaching a class together which examines the aspect of “love” in some of the greatest plays and novels in literary history. The plot suggests that the subject matter of the course may invade the private lives of those who teach it. Going one step further is the possibility that the process of teaching may contain erotic elements. Although the outcome is quite predictable it is quite humorous to watch the proceedings.

The entire cast is more than competent under the careful direction of David Saint who moves the evening along at a steady pace. Mr. Saint does what he can with the new and antiquated scripts, as do the actors, but they all fall short of covering up the obvious flaws. Most of the work seems shallow, without substance, mostly because of weak character development. Perhaps a line spoken by Bunny Stuntz to the audience when she is trying to convene her meeting, may possibly sum up the evening one acts, “Now while we’re waiting – why are we here? Is it fair to ask that?” As it turns out the audience is only waiting for something to happen, but it never does.

“Final Follies” features scenic design by James Youmans, costume design by David Murin, lighting design by Cory Pattak, sound design by Scott Killian, and casting by Stephanie Klapper Casting.

Primary Stages’ “Final Follies” runs at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street) through Sunday, October 21, 2018. For more information, including the performance schedule and ticket purchase, visit https://primarystages.org/. Running time is 2 hours and 10 minutes, including one intermission.

Photo: Deborah Rush and Piter Marek in "The Rape of Bunny Stuntz. Credit: James Leynse.

“On Beckett,” currently playing at Irish Repertory Theatre’s Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage, is part performance, part graduate school lecture (with perambulation), part predilections on whether Samuel Beckett’s writing is “natural clown territory,” and part perusal of the importance of culture and language – all presented with perfection and seemingly unbridled passion by Bill Irwin. During Mr. Irwin’s introduction, it becomes clear the audience is about to experience something out of the ordinary, and when Mr. Irwin completes “a final passage of Beckett, after which the lights will go out, and the evening will be done,” experience one of the most profound experiments to be conducted on an off-Broadway stage.

“On Beckett” incudes readings and performances from Beckett’s 1950 series of thirteen short prose pieces to which Beckett “gave that odd title “Texts for Nothing,” from an early Beckett novel “Watt,” and selections from one of Samuel Beckett’s two greatest plays “Waiting for Godot.” Vladimir and Estragon and Pozzo and Lucky emerge from the iconic play in ways that are refreshing and equally disturbing. Lucky’s “nonsense speech” has never been more provocative, more pain-filled, more relevant.

Beckett asks, “where does violence sit in the human equation” in the excerpt from “Watt.” The speaker rehearses “the whacks, the moans, the cracks, the groans, the welts, the squeaks, the belts, the shrieks, the pricks, the prayers, the kicks, the tears, the skelps, and the yelps” the speaker’s week proffers. These “ascending levels of violence” rattle from Bill Irwin’s soul during his reading of Beckett’s text. The same passion pervades Mr. Irwin’s performance of the excerpts from “Waiting for Godot” (with an appearance of Finn O’Sullivan as “Boy).

Mr. Irwin teases the text, teases the audience’s perception of “existence,” and challenges his own ability to extract himself from the power Samuel Beckett’s writing has had over him. He admits, “This language haunts me, it will not let me alone.” After ninety minutes with Bill Irwin and his “On Beckett,” the audience is reminded of the enormous skill of the actor and the haunting allure of Beckett’s “deep” writing.

“On Beckett” is about Bill Irwin’s process and the metacognition involved in that creative process as he shares the push-pull relationship he has with existentialism’s bard. This is a performance needed to be seen, to be ingested, to be struggled with. Samuel Beckett echoes and hauntingly precedes (philosophically) William Butler Yeats and T.S. Eliot. This reviewer could not escape “watching” the aging J. Alfred Prufrock, the “bottoms of his trousers rolled” lingering “till human voices wake us, and we drown.”

Or perhaps, as the speaker in “Texts for Nothing, Text #9 opines, “There’s a way out there, there’s a way out somewhere, the rest would come, the other words, sooner or later, and the power to get there, and the way to get there, and pass out, and see the beauties of the skies, and see the stars again.” Vladimir’s question remains: “Was I sleeping while the others suffered?” Was he? Were we? Are we?

By agreeing to carefully examine the sex-role stereotypes attributed to women, five disparate women named ‘Betty’ cautiously approach self-acceptance and self-understanding in Jen Silverman’s “Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties” at MCC Theater’s Lucille Lortel Theatre. Their collective rage about their loneliness, their fears, their submission, and their dismissions by men is a welcomed examination of gender and sexual status in the attainment and celebration of equality. Although Jen Silverman’s new play adds little in content to the discussion, her method(s) of developing her themes is/are somewhat unique and engaging.

The five Betties know each other and call each other ‘Betty.’ The audience differentiates them by their individual character traits and by the numbers 1 through 5. Betty 1 (a vulnerable and needy Dana Delany) and Betty 2 (a lonely and self-deprecating Adina Verson) are Femme, rich, married (to Richard and Charles respectively), and lonely. Their husbands are “busy” and inattentive. Betty 3 (a bold yet unfulfilled Ana Villafañe) is Femme and Latinx and exploring her potential as a playwright after seeing her first Shakespeare play. Betty 4 (a transparent and effaced Lea Delaria) is a tattooed Butch Lesbian who loves to work on her truck and is “too often ignored.” And Betty 5 (an ebullient and charismatic Chaunté Wayans) is Genderqueer (masculine-of-center), tattooed, and owns her own boxing gym. Betty 5 likes to work on her truck with Betty 4 who has a huge crush on her.

On Dane Laffrey’s almost-bare stage, the 5 Betties collide in a variety of settings in the present in New York City: at dinner parties; the boxing gym; the garage; and alone. They share their loneliness, their rage, their misunderstandings about themselves and one another, and their desires for community and acceptance and love. The playwright uses the vagina as the trope for this exploration into identity and awareness. In the process, the Betties least likely to “connect” become lovers while the remaining Betties transcend their earlier misgivings about self to achieve new levels of recognition.

One wishes to know more about each Betty to feel for the conflicts they face and fully appreciate the plot these conflicts drive in the ninety minutes of frenzied activity on the stage. The importance of the play’s themes is incontrovertible; however, is Ms. Silverman’s approach to these ideas pretentious or prophetic? Do chairs and truck engines falling from the ceiling advance the dramatic progression? Do audience members need to crane their collective necks to read large text projections to understand what is “about to happen.” And if those projections are in fact necessary, has the playwright done her best to define the play’s characters and actions?

Humor tempered with caring is necessary to pull off something as zany as “Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties.” Less humor and more opportunities to care about these Betties seems needed here for a more satisfying result.

COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES

The cast of “Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties” features Dana Delany, Lea DeLaria, Adina Verson, Ana Villafañe, and Chaunté Wayans.

“Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties” runs at MCC Theater’s Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street through Sunday October 7, 2018. For tickets and more information, visit www.MCCTheater.org. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

One would think mounting a Broadway show about snooker would be perilous. Richard Bean’s “The Nap,” currently running at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, unfortunately confirms that fear. Think “The Hustler” staged as a farce with poorly developed characters whose conflicts are not believable and drive a less than satisfying plot. Dylan Spokes (an energetic and engaging Ben Schnetzer) is a young Sheffield snooker player who has become a world player of the game. He finds himself the object of a “complicated” plot to recover the large amount money that a “foreign” syndicate lost betting on one of his games – a bet that resulted from a bizarre conversation between Dylan’s mother Stella (a dazed and disconnected Johanna Day) and Waxy Bush (a wooden and fearful Alexandra Billings) Stella’s transgender boss who is missing her left hand.

Joining Stella and Waxy are Mohammad Butt (a suspicious Bhavesh Patel) “Integrity Officer for the International Centre for Sport Security” and Eleanor Lavery (a transparent and wily Heather Lind) “of the National Crime Agency.” It would do disservice to “The Nap” to disclose the “shenanigans” Stella, Waxy, Mohammad, and Eleanor” involve themselves in to reach their goal of recovering the one-hundred-twenty thousand pounds lost in the ill-informed bet. It is enough to say that most of the story is predictable. The mistaken identities, the subterfuge, and the attempt at farce do not rescue the weak script. Nor does Daniel Sullivan’s direction. Unfortunately, the enterprise lies flat throughout the two hours.

The cast seems to do its best to enliven “The Nap” including Max Gordon Moore’s portrayal of Dylan’s whacky agent Tony DanLino. But without Ben Schnetzer’s commitment to his character Dylan Spokes and John Ellison Conlee’s supportive performance as Dylan’s father Bobby, the play would proceed without energy or nuance. Both actors understand their characters fully and deliver believable and energetic performances. To be fair to the rest of the cast, they had less to “dig into” in the weak characters they were given to portray.

David Rockwell’s scenic design is easy on the eye – it does not as Waxy declares about reading “go in one eye and out the other.” The British Legion Snooker Room, the Hotel Room at the St. George Hotel, Waxy’s Country Living Room, and The World Snooker Championship Final are given authentic detail by Mr. Rockwell. Justin Townsend’s lighting is appropriate as is Lindsay Jones’s original music and sound design.

As in any Shakespearean tragi-comedy, the protagonist is the victor in the end and gets reunited with “his love.” The journey to that celebration is long and bumpy. Some actors are difficult to understand, and the dialects wobble a bit more than they might. Some of the rough edges might resolve during the run but that seems unlikely given the script’s less than satisfying dramatic development.

“The Nap” currently runs at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). Tickets are available at www.Telecharge.com, by calling 212-239-6200, or by visiting The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Box Office at 261 West 47th Street. For more information about “The Nap,” please visit http://thenapbroadway.com/. Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes including one intermission.

Sarah Bernhardt (an intense and commanding Janet McTeer) struggles with her decision to play Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” not because of self-doubt or weakness, but because she is not sure William Shakespeare wrote the tragedy all that well or fully understood the play’s protagonist. During rehearsals for the play and for Bernhardt’s groundbreaking role as Hamlet, she argues with her cast about Hamlet’s age and demeanor and wonders why the ghost of Hamlet’s father “comes in armor? I’m his son. Why doesn’t he just talk to me?” In Theresa Rebeck’s “Bernhardt/Hamlet” currently running at Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre, Bernhardt is so convinced the Bard got it wrong that she urges the French dramatist – and her married paramour – Edmond Rostand (a passionate and somewhat languorous Jason Butler Harner) to adapt the tragedy to her specifications.

Ms. Rebeck’s compelling new play explores in depth Sarah Bernhardt’s struggles with playing “Hamlet” and her compassion for being a “thinking” actor who works her craft with “feeling.” Bernhardt takes no prisoners in this effort; rather, she draws upon her power to navigate her journey to authenticity and believability on the stage. When Rostand fails in his efforts to adapt “Hamlet” to her liking and spend his time on “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Bernhardt replaces him with Marcel Schwob and Eugene Morand whose translation (with Bernhardt as Hamlet) is staged in Paris in 1899. Not even “love” gets in the way of Sarah Bernhardt’s passion for the theatre.

That passion is exemplified in Bernhardt’s conversation with Constant Coquelin (Dylan Baker) during a rehearsal of “Hamlet” when he is delivering his lines as the ghost of Hamlet’s father. “Yes, I have it Constant I have the words it’s the sense of it that eludes. I cannot make it out! “Is it not monstrous that this player here but in a fiction, in a dream of passion could force his soul so to his own conceit” how is that monstrous. He is a player. It is what players do.” For Sarah Bernhardt, nothing stands in the way of the actor tackling a role with thoughtful feeling. Ms. Rebeck captures that passion with ethos, pathos, and logos. Her writing connects with the audience on significant and enduring levels.

Beowulf Boritt’s massive revolving set allows the action of the play to easily open from the commanding stage to Bernhardt’s dressing room and other locations. Toni-Leslie James’s costumes are period-perfect and Bradley King’s lighting drapes the stage in luminous folds of splendor.

At the end of “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” the audience sees a clip from the 1900 film adaptation of “Hamlet” in which Sarah Bernhardt appears as Hamlet dueling Laertes. This is a fitting conclusion to an important dramatic exploration of the life and passion of Sarah Bernhardt and a celebration of women and power.

The creative team includes Beowulf Boritt (Set Design), Toni-Leslie James (Costume Design), Bradley King (Lighting Design) and Fitz Patton (Original Music and Sound Design).

“Bernhardt/Hamlet” runs at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street) through November 11 on the following performance schedule: Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 3:00 p.m. Tickets at $49.00-$139.00 are available by calling 212-719-1300, or online at www.roundabouttheatre.org. Running time is 2 hours and 25 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: “I Was Most Alive with You” at Playwrights Horizons Mainstage (Through Sunday October 14, 2018)Written by Craig LucasDirected by Tyne RafaeliReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

Present, past, and several possible futures collide with the biblical story of Job in Craig Lucas’s “I Was Most Alive with You” currently playing at Playwrights Horizons Mainstage. And within each time frame and tale exist a multitude of layers of complexity and contingency about the human condition, particularly its vulnerability and resilience in the face of elucidated and unexplained suffering. As in all attempts to parse why bad things happen to good people, there are no “answers” in the play – perhaps only richer and more enduring questions raised by the First Testament mythos of Job “one blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.”

Job’s alter ego in “I Was Most Alive with You” is Knox (a vulnerable and self-deprecating Russell Harvard) the thirty-something adopted Deaf son of Ash (a deeply flawed yet sensitive Michael Gaston) and Pleasant (a damaged but highly resilient Lisa Emery). At the beginning of the play and in real time, Knox is at home alone for the first time since his car accident that left him missing a hand and unable to sign. Ash, having left Knox at home, arrives at his workroom to continue work on a teleplay with his partner Astrid (an energetic and omnipotent Marianna Bassham). After reviewing seven basic ideas sketched out at Ash’s place earlier, they decide on a narrative dealing with the Thanksgiving dinner that precipitated Knox’s leaving with his boyfriend Farhad (a conflicted and distressed Tad Cooley) and getting into the accident. This narrative, according to Astrid, will be a “two-pronged narrative, what one did and what one might have done, should’ve.”

As Astrid and Ash begin to explore their idea, the events of that Thanksgiving, all that led up to it, and the events that followed the accident begin to exist in flashback in precise counterpoint to the action in the present. This challenging convention includes a shadow cast that not only signs the dialogue but also “acts out” what is being “said.” All members of the shadow cast work on a level above the main playing area. This allows the hearing and the d/Deaf to explore the action in a variety of ways – including the occasional use of projections of dialogue. Director Tyne Rafaeli’s staging is brilliant. She moves the cast into and out of the present and past with clarity and a seamless majesty. Arnulfo Maldonado’s scenic design, Annie Wiegand’s lighting design, and Jane Shaw’s sound design further enhance the fluidness of the transitions from scene to scene.

It is in both the present and the past that the audience experiences the depth of despair in Knox’s life – the same depth of despair that eventually led Job to curses the day he was born. His addiction, loss of love, loss of family, and loss of limb catapult Knox and his family into a chaotic examination of relationship, faith, and future. Scenes of working on the teleplay collapse into the concomitant scenes from the past with the logos, ethos, and pathos needed to make both dimensions believable and cathartic. Knox learns that his grandmother Carla (an animated and thoughtful Lois Smith) is dying, that his mother summons the courage to leave his father who is in love with Astrid, and that Carla’s Jehovah’s Witnesses friend Mariama (a caring and distraught Gameela Wright) is more than someone to help with the ASL signing at Thanksgiving – she has been the one assisting Carla cope with her illness.

“I Was Most Alive with You” explores the complex ways we communicate with or without speaking and hearing. Whether our language is English or ASL, how we insinuate, describe, perceive, interpret, parse, and understand the world around us is rehearsed with authenticity and believability. The play also explores how humankind deals with tragedy and deep despair. In the final scene – back in the present – Astrid and Ash are finishing the teleplay with Knox making a decision that threatens to explode life as his family knows it. Has Knox decided to end his life? Will Farhad intervene? How will the real and the fictional end? Astrid asks an emotionally distraught Ash whether he can accept an ending that includes rescuing Knox or whether he can live with “whatever happens.” Perhaps that is the only question available to the bereft, the wounded, the distraught, the suffering. And if it is, can we accept that choice?

“I Was Most Alive with You” runs at Playwrights Horizons (416 West 42nd Street) through Sunday October 14th on the following performance schedule: Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. Matinee performances take place Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets start at $59.00 and are available at https://www.playwrightshorizons.org/. Running tine is 2 hours and 15 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.

Sometimes the brokenhearted are aware on some non-conscious level of the impending inconsolable, melancholic, or woebegone event(s) about to befall them. They might find themselves not associating with friends, or cancelling social engagements, or like Dorothea (a delightful but desperately infatuated Jean Lichty) deciding not to answer the phone when expecting an important call from a new “suitor.” Near the end of her set of one-hundred “setting-up exercises,” Dorothea hears the phone ringing in the living room of the apartment she shares with Bodey (an ebullient and crestfallen Kristine Nielsen). Bodey is hard of hearing and claims not to have heard the phone ringing and proceeds to prepare the recently purchased fryers and deviled eggs for the lovely Sunday picnic at Creve Coeur Lake – just a short streetcar ride from the apartment.

Dorothea is upset and insists that Bodey put on her hearing aid and more intently listen for the call from Ralph Ellis the principal of the school where Dorothea teaches Civics. After a brief encounter in the back seat of Ralph’s car, Dorothea assumes her boss is “the one” she has been waiting for. During their “scuffle,” Helena (a brusque and overbearing Annette O’Toole), Dorothea’s co-worker at the school, arrives at the apartment to discuss “important business” with Dorothea. Also joining the trio is Bodey’s upstairs neighbor Miss Gluck (an irrepressible and indulgent Polly McKie) – the fourth member of the playwright’s intriguing lonely-hearts club.

Miss Gluck serves as the catalyst for the gradual unfolding of truth. As the other characters interact with her and collide with her, their hidden feelings and secrets are exposed as they project their loss and anger on her. This is a brilliant bit of writing by Tennessee Williams who seems to hover over the play somewhat like Tom Wingfield in “The Glass Menagerie” and reintroduce kaleidoscopic shards of the conflicts found in previous characters like Tom’s mother Amanda and sister Laura and Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Deception and dishonesty abound as the four women learn more about themselves and begin to understand the reality they need to face and accept the need to “move on.”

Although Dorothea insists to Bodey that “complexes and obsessions must not be cultivated,” she remains obsessed with the phone call from Ralph Ellis and the possibility they will soon wed. But all the women in “A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur” are cultivating complexes and obsessions and coming to terms with that cultivation is the enduring theme of Tennessee Williams’ play (here and elsewhere). Bodey is obsessed with hooking up her twin brother with Dorothea. Helena is selfishly obsessed with holding Dorothea to the promise she will room with Helena and assume half of the expenses. Dorothea is obsessed with the idea that the new apartment will be a place to entertain Ralph, and Miss Gluck is obsessed with the despair of loneliness and bereavement.

Austin Pendleton directs with a steady hand and keeps the action moving forward at a brisk pace on the stage of the Theatre at St. Clements. Harry Feiner’s set and lighting provide the “fiercely bright colors” of Bodey’s apartment that at the same time provide a refreshing palette for Bodey compared to her rather drab existence at International Shoe and challenges Helena’s naively ordered sense of her universe of the privileged and “elite.”

Perhaps a picnic on a lovely Sunday afternoon with skillet-fried plump chicken fryers and deviled eggs is the best remedy for a broken heart or for the disconsolate. At least the pain has temporarily subsided or has sufficiently numbed the distraught enough to “open” the heart to healing and the surcease of loneliness. Only time will tell for Dorothea as she heads out the door to meet Bodey and Buddy for perhaps her last chance for love. Tennessee Williams’ 1979 play “A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur” connects deeply with all (individuals, governments, nation-states) suffering the malaise of loss or lack of identity and the quest for independence that sometimes results in broken hearts. Perhaps there is a mercy-seat for all who languish with wounded hearts.

“A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur” runs at the Theatre at St. Clements (423 West 46th Street) on the following performance schedule: Wednesday – Thursday at 7:00 p.m.; Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $55.00 - $99.00 and can be purchased by visiting www.LaFemmeTheatreProductions.org or by calling (866) 811-4111. Running time is 1 hour and 45 minutes without intermission.

Currently playing at Walkerspace, The Pond Theatre Company’s “The Naturalists” is a compelling look at how one’s “secret” past can suddenly and unexpectedly encroach on the present and delay one’s progress into the future. Brothers Francis Sloane (a thoughtful and tender John Keating) and Billy Sloane (a defiant and burdened Tim Ruddy) enjoy an uneventful present in their mobile home in a rural hamlet of County Monaghan, Ireland in 2010. Their lives might not be described as idyllic; however, they get along most of the time, and the income from their cattle farm seems to provide a comfortable albeit spartan existence.

Billy runs the farm while Francis teaches his students that the First Nation peoples “had it right . . . we are keepers of the earth.” They hope to save enough money to return to the family house which they had to abandon with their mother Martha years ago. Francis convinces Billy the pair need someone to help around the mobile home and he interviews Josie Larmer (a repentant and loyal Sarah Street) for the position and she agrees to fill it – even “stay over” if necessary. Playwright Jaki McCarrick unfolds this exposition with care, allowing the actors to portray their characters and their layered conflicts with rich authenticity.

Josie, Francis, and Billy have more than their share of “skeletons” in their collective closets: addiction, incest, imprisonment, bomb-making – among other things – clutter their past lives and the trio seems to have come to terms with most of that detritus successfully. Francis observes positive changes in Billy. “I know. But it’s all, I don’t know, comin’ to a head now or somethin’. Like he’s becomin’ a man at last and his old skin won’t fit him no more.” This forward movement for the “new family” is impeded after Billy opens a letter to Francis from his acquaintance from 1979 Narrow Water days John-Joe Doherty (a dastardly and pernicious Michael Mellamphy).

John-Joe is an “old ghost” from the past – the past Billy knows is “catching up” with him and Friancis and threatening the redemption they have welcomed since moving to the mobile home and welcoming Josie into their “family.” It is difficult to comment on John-Joe’s visit in Act II without issuing a spoiler alert. Jaki McCarrick has written a dense script with layers of rich and enduring questions about humankind’s ability to navigate the present when the past continues to attempt to negotiate itself back into that present. The shadows from the past are often insidious and even life-threatening. Under the direction of Colleen Clinton and Lily Dorment, the ensemble cast of “The Naturalists” work brilliantly together to explore these dynamic characters whose engaging conflicts could not be more relevant in the present.

Chika Shimizu’s set design, Caitlin Smith Rapoport’s lighting design along with Christopher Ross-Ewart’s sound design clearly define the various settings of “The Naturalists.” If directors Colleen Clinton and Lily Dorment could modify the convention of the scene changes, the action of the play would move more quickly without sacrificing any dramatic substance.

The trio – Francis, Billy, and Josie – are naturalists; in addition, they embrace the tenants of naturalism which affirm that it is natural laws that govern the structure and behavior of the universe. Perhaps Francis summarizes it best. “Morals is it? Morals are nothin’ but the customs of the people around ya and conforming to those customs. If we were all vegetarian it would be immoral to eat meat.” Amen.

THE NATURALISTS

The cast for “The Naturalists” includes John Keating as Francis Xavier Sloane, Tim Ruddy as Billy Sloane, Sarah Street as Josie Larmer, and Michael Mellamphy as John-Joe Doherty.

Performances of “The Naturalists” take place through Sunday September 23 at Walkerspace, located at 46 Walker Street in Manhattan. Tickets, priced at $45.00 general admission, can be purchased by visiting thepondtheatre.org or by calling 212-279-4200. Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes plus one intermission.

The moral turpitude of those who “consume” is in the spotlight in Lillian Hellman’s 1936 “Days to Come” currently running at Mint Theater Company at Theatre Row’s Beckett Theatre. On the surface, Hellman’s second play focuses on the dispute between labor and management in the small town of Callom, Ohio where Andrew Rodman’s (willful but wimpish Larry Bull) family brush factory has been shuttered by a strike. Because Andrew has a close relationship with the workers, he would like to see the strike end; however, he cannot afford the increase in wages being demanded by those workers. His sister Cora (a whining and wistfully weak Mary Bacon) does not want the strike to end.

Beneath the surface of this unremarkable plot is the more dynamic storyline driven by Hellman’s complex characters and their authentic, relevant conflicts. Andrew is in financial trouble not because of the failure of his factory but because of his uncontrollable spending on his distant and disinterested wife Julie (a reserved and weak Janie Brookshire). The strike occurs not because his workers are asking for an unreasonable raise: the strike occurs because Andrew has lost his moral compass. Those around him (the “one-percent”) have also abandoned any values they once held. Betrayal, criminality, deceit, murder, gluttony, and prevarication abound, and these are the themes that resonate with the current socio-political environment.

The important themes of Lillian Hellman’s play and the rich, enduring questions it raises are unfortunately overshadowed by the production. Overall, the performances are weak, and the direction seems uneven. Hellman’s characters in “Days to Come” are meant to be well-rounded, strong, and authentic. Only Chris Henry Coffey and Kim Martin-Cotton bring those significant attributes to their characters Thomas Firth and Hannah (respectively).

Mr. Sullivan’s cast is fully capable of delivering engaging and believable performances. Why most of the characters become caricatures is puzzling and problematic. Hellman’s grit requires real characters: real thugs (Dan Daily, Geoffrey Allen Murphy and Evan Zes) not cartoon thugs; a truly lost and somewhat damaged wife (Janie Brookshire) not an indecisive and cloying spouse; a deceitful and despicable best friend and attorney (Ted Deasy) not just an arrogant sycophant; a truly decisive and forceful union representative (Roderick Hill) not a hesitant and somewhat fearful bureaucrat.

It is Hannah the cook and Lucy (a servile but enlightened Betsy Hogg) the maid who sacrifice their wages and “steal” food from the Rodman larder to support the striking workers and their hungry families. Strong women with deep convictions. Cora, on the other hand, will not sacrifice her breakfast in the living room where she has “had it for thirty years.” Sam Wilkie (Dan Daily) the strikebreaker is “like the English” and “eats big in the mornings.” Moral strength battles moral depravity in Lillian Hellman’s “Days to Come.”

That battle of the Titans gets lost in the Mint Theater production of her play and (despite Harry Feiner’s elegant set and Andrea Varga’s splendid period costumes) falls flat. The Mint’s mission to produce “worthwhile plays from the past that have been lost or forgotten” is one of the most important goals of our Off-Broadway theatre companies and must be supported and we await the upcoming production of this valuable company.

The creative team for “Days to Come” includes sets by Harry Feiner, costumes by Andrea Varga, lights by Christian DeAngelis, and sound by Jane Shaw. Jeff Meyers serves as production stage manager.

Performances for “Days to Come” take place at Theater Row (410 West 42nd Street between 9th and Dyer Avenues) on the following performance schedule: Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. For information about added performances, visit http://minttheater.org/. Tickets for “Days to Come” are $65.00 (including $2.25 theater restoration fee) and can be purchased online at www.TeleCharge.com, by phone at 212-239-6200, or in person at the Theatre Row Box Office. Running time is 2 hours with one intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: “Smokey Joe’s Café” at Stage 42 (Tickets on Sale through January 9, 2019)Co-conceived by Stephen Helper and Jack VierteDirected and Choreographed by Joshua BergasseReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

“Faded pictures in my scrapbook/Just thought I’d take one more look/And recall when we were all/In the neighborhood.” – “Neighborhood”

The revival of Grammy-Award-Winning “Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller,” having headed south from its recent engagement at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, has landed at Stage 42 in New York City to positive notices from the press – including this one! Forty iconic Leiber and Stoller hits in ninety minutes would be glorious enough, but hearing those songs delivered by a cast of nine extraordinary singers and dancers backed by a powerhouse eight-member band is an experienced not to be missed. “Smokey Joe’s Café” currently running at Stage 42 delivers more that might expect from any musical revue.

Under Joshua Bergasse’s direction, the cast (five men and four women) fills Beowulf Boritt’s towering Café set with solo numbers, duets, trios, quartets, quintets and full company numbers that transport the adoring audience back to a glorious past with themes that reverberate in the present and continue to be relevant in the future. The forty songs celebrate memories, falling in and out of love, perseverance in adversity, seduction, equality, and loyalty. Whether backed by the band or singing a capella, the performers deliver their songs with rich interpretive skills and pristine vocal qualities.

There are solos, duets, trios, quartets, quartets plus one, and roof-raising company numbers. The roof of Stage 42 is rattled not only by the matchless vocals but also by the members of the band including a piano four-hand challenge. For some of the numbers, band members bring instruments onto the stage. Yuka Tadano plays her standing bass and Eric Brown plays a small set of drums center stage. Mr. Bergasse’s staging is innovative and engages the audience in the “neighborhood” experience of Smokey Joe’s Café.

Standout solos are Jelani Remy’s ebullient “Jailhouse Rock” and John Edwards’s hauntingly beautiful “I Who Have Nothing.” Both singers have expansive ranges and beautiful rich tones that dig deeply into their songs. With Dwayne Cooper and Kyle Taylor Parker, Jelani and John are the men’s quartet that owns the stage with slick classic Motown dance moves and other classic dance steps all choreographed by Joshua Bergasse. The harmonies created are tight and full of wonderful texture. Often other members of the cast join the quartet or create other combinations of voices and styles.

Standout numbers in the “Smokey Joe’s Café” song list are the tender “Dance with Me” (Dionne D. Figgins with All Men); “On Broadway” (Men’s Quartet); the seductive “Spanish Harlem” (Dionne and Jelani with Dwayne and Max Sangerman); “Fools Fall in Love” (Nicole Vanessa Ortiz with Emma Degerstedt and John); “Kansas City” (Nicole, Max, and Alysha Umphress); “Stand By Me” (John with Full Company); “Loving You” (sung a capella with Max and All Men); “There Goes My Baby” (Kyle with All Men); and “I’m A Women” (All Women with Kyle).

“Smokey Joe’s Café’s” current incarnation is a must-see show. The all-star cast and the Leiber & Stoller songs they perform will keep you singing and remembering long after leaving the theater. The opening number sung by the Full Company says it best: “Faded pictures in my scrapbook/Just thought I’d take one more look/And recall when we were all/In the neighborhood.”

“Smokey Joe’s Café” features scenic design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Alejo Vietti, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Peter Fitzgerald, wig design by Charles G. LaPointe, original vocal arrangements by Chapman Roberts, additional original vocal arrangements by Louis St. Louis and orchestrations by Sonny Paladino and Steve Margoshes. Music Supervision and new arrangements are also by Mr. Paladino. Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting. Production photos by Joan Marcus.

Performances for ‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller” run at Stage 42 (422 West 42nd Street). For the performance schedule and to purchase tickets ($49.00 - $109.00), please visit the show’s official website http://smokeyjoescafemusical.com/. Running time is 90 minutes without intermission.

Photo: Will Rowland and George Salazar in “Be More Chill.” Credit: Maria Baranova.

Off-Broadway Review: “Be More Chill” at The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (Through Sunday September 30, 2018)Music and Lyrics by Joe IconisBook by Joe TraczBased on the Novel by Ned VizziniDirected by Stephen BrackettReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

It is difficult to separate “Be More Chill,” currently running The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center, from the hype surrounding what has become a teenage cult musical since its 2015 run at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. This hype has been heightened by a cast recording and an extensive marketing campaign. What is this musical about and how successful is its current incarnation?

High school junior Jeremy Heere (an awkward and amiable Will Rowland) would like his chill factor to be higher. He does not want to be “special,” but he just wants “to survive.” From his opening number “More Than Survive” it is difficult to diagnose the suburban New Jersey teen’s precise source of anxiety. Is it the slow-loading porn on his laptop, his dad’s (Jason SweetTooth Williams) disrespect for privacy, his fear of arriving at school “reeking?” His generalized anxiety seems no different than that of any teenager navigating their way through high school’s pitfalls. What is it Jeremy is dreading?

There is some bullying by classmates Rich Goranski (a menacing but broken Gerard Canonico) and Jake Dillinger (a high school awesomeness personified Britton Smith) but Jeremy has a solid friend in Michael Mell (a balanced and authentic George Salazar) with whom he shares an interest in video games and music. What Jeremy does not have, besides more chill, is his love interest Christine Canigula (a sweetly dorky Stephanie Hsu). There is also the “noise” created by the most popular girl in school Chloe Valentine (a crass and confident Katlyn Carlson), the second most popular Brooke Lohst (an insecure Lauren Marcus), and sidekick Jenna Rolan (a prying and intrusive Tiffany Mann).

Rather than finding some safe and relatively sane resolution to the angst of adolescence, Jeremy takes the same “gray oblong pill from Japan” that Rich swallowed to up his chill. The pill – the Squip – is a super-computer that tells Rich and Jeremy what to do and say to be cooler. Sci-Fi replaces socializing. The “voice” of the Squip is the aesthetic space-overcoat-clad Jason Tam.

Jeremy’s Squip-fueled journey from sad to glad to “normalcy” is told in scenes accompanied by loud pop-rock, techno-rock beats composed by Joe Iconis (with lyrics also by Iconis) and a serviceable book by Joe Tracz. Few of the songs are memorable. However, “Michael in the Bathroom” Michael’s existential lament after being ditched by the post-Squip more chill Jeremy is perhaps the most carefully written and the most sensitively delivered by George Salazar.

The cast is uniformly outstanding and fully committed to their roles. The playwright does not give us enough exposition about the protagonist Jeremy or his best friend Michael. Nor do the creators disclose what motivates Rich, Jake, or the popular female trio; therefore, their characters often struggle to transcend caricatures. Stephen Brackett’s direction and Chase Brock’s choreography move the action along at an appropriate pace and with welcomed energy. Beowulf Boritt’s expansive set, Bobby Frederick Tilley II’s stunning costumes, and Tyler Micoleau’s mood-driven lighting complement the musical’s settings.

There are no LGBTQ+ characters in “Be More Chill” and the only mentions of the sexual status of this disparate community are negative. When Jeremy decides to sign up to be in the after-school play – a post-apocalyptic zombie infused retelling of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – in order to spend time with his crush Christine – he worries that “it’s a sign-up sheet for getting called gay.” Predictably, and sadly, as soon as Jeremy signs, Rich calls out “Gay! Hahaha!” Rich taunts Jeremy about being gay, suggesting that he and Michael are “boyfriends.” The fact that Michael has lesbian parents (“mothers”) does not offset the musical’s lack of strong LGBTQ+ characters.

The hype surrounding “Be More Chill,” including its extensive marketing campaign, and the musical itself cannot and should not be a substitute for the real work required to discover who one is and then grapple with how to achieve selfhood and self-acceptance in the midst of discrimination, bullying, and dehumanization. “Be More Chill” hopefully will not itself become the Squip that numbs the intensity of that process.

“Be More Chill” runs through Sunday September 23rd, 2018 at The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street, NYC). Performances are Tuesday - Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $65.00 - $140.00 and are on sale at www.ticketcentral.com or by calling (212) 279-4200. For more information, visit www.BeMoreChillMusical.com. Running time is 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission.

Photo: Will Rowland and George Salazar in “Be More Chill.” Credit: Maria Baranova.

At the beginning of Emily Emerson’s “The Field,” recently finishing its run at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival at the 14th Street Y Theatre, the cornfields of Avon, Virginia are ready to be turned under by the hardworking farmers and the lives of hundreds of other hardworking women and men in the town have been “turned under” by the closure of the furniture plant where they have been employed for decades. All the plant’s production has been moved to Mexico. The folks of Avon need something like a miracle to pull them through this devastation.

The setting of “The Field” is a small diner run by Rita (a calloused but tender Cinny Strickland) and her young cook Enid (a wise beyond her years Emma Russell). Rita honors her deceased father by continuing to keep the diner in operation in good times and in bad. She is generous to a fault and diverts all the customers’ tips to Enid’s college fund. Enid makes the best hush puppies around using a secret ingredient to maintain her standing. The diner is Avon’s “town square” where all important matters are discussed, and relevant decisions made. After Mayor Bob Daniels (an officious and disconnected Douglas Paul Brown) announces the plant closure at Rita’s, local farmer Francis O’Donnell (a beleaguered but hopeful Brian Mullins) enters and announces that overnight a huge crop circle has appeared in his cornfield.

Into this mayhem comes George Sartori (a warm but suspicious Ben Baker) the reporter assigned by a regional newspaper to cover the furniture plant closure. Sartori is well-dressed, well-coiffed, and handsome as hell – the kind of drifter-grifter-diabolic intruder-stranger-alien-angel that often sweeps into small western towns and brings either “trouble” or “salvation.” Rita chooses “trouble” until Sartori pins her to one of the tables after hours and spends the night. So much for the possibility he is a messenger from God. While working, Sartori never loosens his tie, uses a small notebook for his research, and doesn’t seem to own a cell phone. Nor do any of the other residents of modern-day Avon.

Sartori initiates a “philosophical” discussion of the provenance and meaning of the crop circle. Has it been inscribed by aliens? Is it a miracle? Francis’s wife Beryl’s (a gentle and content Sarah Jenkins) overnight “recovery” from cancer would suggest a miracle; however, the reporter argues for a rational explanation and convinces the townspeople to try to “duplicate” the phenomenon in one of Bob’s fields in the same timeframe of the crop circle’s appearance in Francis’s field to rule out his theory. They fail, and Francis decides to test the miracle theory by plowing the crop circle under. To disclose what happens next would require a spoiler alert but it is as confusing as everything that has come before.

The playwright chooses to use a trope, here an extended metaphor, to grapple with the meaning of miracles and raise enduring questions about the phenomenon. There is a disconnect between the questions the playwright chooses to ask and the questions that are embedded in a rich discussion of miracles. Ms. Emerson engages her characters in a conversation about whether the crop circle might be the work of aliens, the work of humans, or a miracle. Not addressed directly are perhaps more difficult questions: Do miracles exist? What is the provenance of miracles? What is the longevity of a miracle? Can grantors of miracles reverse their supernatural occurrences? Does a miracle have to be embraced to be effective?

Ms. Emerson’s characters have rather poorly defined conflicts. Therefore, the plot driven by the conflicts wobbles without ever finding a satisfying dramatic arc. It is difficult to care about the characters or their problems and nothing is resolved at the play’s end. There is certainly no catharsis. Direction by Brook Davis cannot overcome the shortcomings of the script leaving the competent cast to struggle on their own to tell the convoluted story the best they can. Hopefully future incarnations of “The Field” will give Ms. Emerson’s intriguing concept a more satisfying treatment.

Unfortunately, “The Field” leaves the audience with only a recurrence of Beryl’s cancer and a befuddled Francis muttering, “What have I done?” But earlier, Sartori skips town after finishing his glowing account of Avon, heads to a new assignment, and now has Enid’s secret ingredient for her hush puppies – cold bacon grease. Might be worth following the grifter.

All performances of the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival run at the 14th Street Y Theatre (344 East 14th Street). For further information about the Festival, the schedule of performances, and to purchase tickets at $25.00 - $50.00 (VIP), please visit https://www.broadwayboundfestival.com/.

There is a bleak, doleful new play entitled “Bergen” that is being presented as part of The Broadway Bound Festival at the 14th Street Y. More a play with songs than a musical, “Bergen” is set in the near future in Norway where a motley group of mediocre rock musicians try to decide what to name their band. They set midnight as the deadline and the only criterion is that the name chosen reflects the collapse of America. Playwright Steven Fechter falls short of the dark side of comedy when the ongoing joke, a plethora of cynical names, wears thin after several outbursts of suggestions as the night of debauchery evolves. The predictable plot is driven by situation and circumstance. The only possible irony to be found is that this bunch of losers want to name their band after the cause of a dystopian America.

There is a surfeit of depressing information spouted by each of the characters about their past which supports their mood and state of mind but little emotion to elicit the present pain and struggle. A lot is said but nothing happens. Enter a new female lead singer who drops in to audition or possibly save the day. It appears the best she can do is ignite the hormones of each band member that results in triggering sexual fantasies, which are as arbitrarily displayed as the songs which are randomly performed by each character. Neither move the plot forward. She obviously knows something the band doesn’t as she flees to the horrid debacle of America to save herself. Of course, before she left the gang came up with the name “American Disease” so the only thing left to do is hire the waitress in the café to be their new female lead singer.

The major problem with the structure of the play is there is no focus. It is difficult to understand what it is about. It is too broad a statement to say the entire world is in trouble for whatever reason. Questions are not answered, dreams are not fulfilled, and life continues to pass the characters by as they only choose to exist within their fantasies. There are too many inner conflicts that are never resolved but merely pile up on top of each other until they topple and are then swept away. The melancholy pulse of the production deflates the dramatic arc and consumes any hope of change or survival, merely encouraging the self-absorbed characters. This makes it difficult to like or care about any of them. Perhaps there is a message buried somewhere within the work, but it is lost in translation.

The creative team includes Janet Mervin (costume design) and Kia Rogers (lighting design). Monet Fleming serves as production stage manager.

All performances of the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival run at the 14th Street Y Theatre (344 East 14th Street). For further information about the Festival, the schedule of performances, and to purchase tickets at $25.00 - $50.00 (VIP), please visit https://www.broadwayboundfestival.com/. Running time for “Bergen” is 85 minutes without intermission.Photo: Members of the cast of “Bergen” at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival. Credit: Emily Hewitt Photography.

Off-Broadway Review: “Long Lost John: A Lennon Family Story” at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival at the 14th Street Y Theatre (Through Saturday, August 11, 2018)Written and Co-Directed by Eddie ZarehCo-Directed by Carlton Cyrus WardReviewed by Joseph VerlezzaTheatre Reviews Limited

Currently running at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival at the 14th Street Y, the new play entitled “Long Lost John: A Lennon Family Story” by Eddie Zareh examines the early childhood of John Lennon. It addresses the complications and grief that arose from first being taken from his mother and put in the care of his Aunt Mimi by order of Social Services and then after a reconciliation, losing his mother when she is tragically hit and killed by a police car. The plot follows a linear structure which takes on a double meaning in this circumstance. First, it follows the events in chronological order starting at one point and ending at another. The problem which emerges during this period is the lack of character development that should result from the events at hand. Second, the tone can be said to flat line, stuck on one emotion which is a consistent stream of anger. There are little pockets when a different response or sentiment attempts to creep in, but it is quickly overshadowed. It is common knowledge that anger is only one stage of grieving and the plot does touch briefly on depression – but what happened to denial, bargaining, and acceptance.

There is too little information about the emotional development of John Lennon and the effect it had on his artistic endeavors and since he is such a prominent figure in musical history much of what is told has already been exposed in literature or documentary film. Those fans who are lucky enough to have visited Liverpool are afforded even more detail about his early years. Paul McCartney who is also still grieving over the loss of his mother, is introduced as a pivotal character when forming a bond with Lennon through their music. Co-Directors Carlton Cyrus Ward and playwright Eddie Zareh fail to explore the depth of any of the principal characters leaving them one dimensional. It merely results in a fact-based plot with little dramatic support to engage the audience and coerce them to have an emotional investment. The production clearly needs a fresh creative critical eye to move forward and suffers from the dilemma of playwrights directing their own work, not allowing it to flourish.

The cast is admirable doing what it can with the material but seems contained and prohibited from exploring. The issue of childhood grieving is an intriguing and deserving subject but perhaps better served with a less complicated celebrated personality. The iconic figure dominates the work always leaving the audience wanting more. In this case what would have deserved attention is the influence of grief on the ability to create. It certainly is informative and sheds light on an important subject but just lacks a certain punch.

All performances of the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival run at the 14th Street Y Theatre (344 East 14th Street). For further information about the Festival, the schedule of performances, and to purchase tickets at $25.00 - $50.00 (VIP), please visit https://www.broadwayboundfestival.com/. Running time for “Long Lost John: A Lennon Family Story” is 90 minutes without intermission.

“Sunset Village,” the new play by Michael Presley Bobbitt, is having its premiere as part of the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival at the 14th Street Y. The success of this show will certainly depend on whether it will be carefully marketed to find the correct venue along with the appropriate audience. The best and most noteworthy attribute of the play is the age of most characters, portraying seniors in a retirement community in central Florida. There certainly seems to be an ageism quandary in the present state of theater, with a lack of roles written for older actors.

The script is predictable with an extremely weak dramatic arc and falls victim to the common pitfalls of poor or nearly non- existent structure. Scenes are created to support the broad situation comedy and fall short on character evolution or plot development. The two protagonists Edna (Anna Marie Kirkpatrick), the meek newbie moving into the community, and Mr. Midnight (Shamrock McShane), the renowned sybarite, are exposed as professional retirees who are intelligent, well-traveled, in shape and active. The conjecture that the idle time of discerning seniors is consumed by sex, drugs, alcohol and Walmart pies may be slightly amusing but does not add any depth to a character and cannot support a ninety-minute production. A plausible depiction might also include a gym, volunteer work, museum visits and cultural performances, all of which can provoke irreverent humor. The identity of the structure also struggles with the possibility of becoming an ensemble piece featuring the coping mechanisms for survival, used by each member of the motley “gang” of women, but to accomplish this, there needs to be extensive character development. Too often the material prompts the actors to fall prey to stereotypical behavior.

The subject matter of the play is certainly fair game and ripe for development, but this incarnation only scratches the surface of what can and should be addressed about the quality of life, grief of loss, struggles of self- acceptance and loneliness which can all be addressed with clever and insightful comedy. Although Mr. Bobbitt has been prompted by personal events in his life that generated his concession to age and mortality, he must realize that the subject is not fresh and that previous products have been quite successful having raised the bar. When the same themes have been addressed by a brilliant sitcom “The Golden Girls,” this new play presently only results in a silver-plated version that does not shine. Hopefully the playwright will continue the journey alongside his saucy seniors and discover the wisdom of their years and the capacity of their hearts.

All performances of the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival run at the 14th Street Y Theatre (344 East 14th Street). For further information about the Festival, the schedule of performances, and to purchase tickets at $25.00 - $50.00 (VIP), please visit https://www.broadwayboundfestival.com/. Running time for “Sunset Village” is 90 minutes without intermission.

Photo: Members of the cast of “Sunset Village” at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival. Credit: Emily Hewitt Photography.

PTP/NYC’s thirty-second season includes two plays by the company’s “usual suspects.” The double bill, currently running at Atlantic Stage 2, includes four of the ten short plays in Howard Barker’s 1987 “The Possibilities” and Caryl Churchill’s 1977 “The After-Dinner Joke.” Both offerings invite the audience to grapple with provocative content that often seems elusive and controversial and that raises numerous essential, enduring questions.

In November 2011, A. E. Dobson wrote in “Exeunt Magazine” that Howard Barker’ works “are organized around antinomies of reason: circumstances and actions whose meaning can be justifiably explained in a number of opposing (and often mutually exclusive) ways.” Antinomies of reason abound in the four short Barker plays. Under Co-Artistic Director Richard Romagnoli’s ingenious direction, seven actors portray the twelve characters found in “The Unforeseen Consequences of a Patriotic Act,” “Reasons for the Fall of Emperors,” “Only Some Can Take the Strain,” and “She Sees the Argument But.”

In the first, “The Unforeseen Consequences of a Patriotic Act,” a Woman (a determined yet naïve Eliza Renner) visits the exiled Judith (a stalwart and conniving Kathleen Wise) and her servant (a strident and steely Marianne Tatum) to convince Judith to return to Jerusalem and accept the accolades she deserves for saving Israel by offering herself to, and ultimately beheading Holofernes. In the second, “Reasons for the Fall of Emperors,” Alexander of Russia (an entitled and presumably contrite Jonathan Tindle) confides in the peasant who shines his boots (a convincing and powerfully focused Christopher Marshall) about his discomfort about the killing in battle but then orders his officer (a stiff and obedient Adam Milano) to have him brutally flogged. In both short plays, nothing is what it might seem to be on the surface, and no one can be fully trusted to be telling the whole truth. Kudos to an unflappable Madeleine Russell who portrays an unconventional woman in a society that come to mistrust the exposure of women’s ankles in “She Sees the Argument But.”

Co-Artistic Director and Producing Director Cheryl Faraone takes the directorial helm for Caryl Churchill’s “The After-Dinner Joke” and guides her talented cast through a successful sailing on the waves of the playwright’s “stew of twisted narrative chronology” that serves up magical realism and dining room farce in the guise of a narrative about charity and “wanting to do good.” Personal secretary Selby (an optimistic but gullible Tara Giordano) tells her boss Mr. Price (an effusive and double-talking Jonathan Tindle) that she wants to quit her job at Price’s Bedding and take money from the rich to give to the poor. After (unsuccessfully) seeking help from the Mayor (an affable and dystopic Christopher Marshall), Selby “a Candide-like do-gooder” travels the world trying to find the perfect location to fulfill her charitable mission. The large cast takes on multiple roles in this rollicking fantasy and successfully lets the audience in on Churchill’s “joke.”

Hallie Zieselman designs the sparse but functional sets for both plays. Annie Ulrich’s costumes, Joe Cabrera’s lighting, and Cormac Bluestone’s sound effectively support the staging of these two important plays.

Performances are Tuesdays - Sundays at 7:00 p.m., Saturdays - Sundays at 2:00 p.m., and select Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2:00 p.m. at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues). The schedule varies - for exact days and times visit www.PTPNYC.org. Tickets are $37.50, $22.50 for students and seniors. Purchase online at www.PTPNYC.org or by calling 1-866-811-4111. For more info visit www.PTPNYC.org. Running time is 2 hours with a 15-minute intermission.

When entering The Hayes Theater to see “Straight White Men, the audience is bombarded by loud music – so loud, one cannot speak to one’s neighbor. Person in Charge 1 (more later) approaches to ask if the music is too loud. If one answers ‘yes,’ one gets a free set of earplugs. If one answers ‘no,’ one finds out later that they are “privileged.” The audience learns in a pre-curtain sharing that the loud music (now stopped) is meant to make the audience feel uncomfortable. The only discomfort is the ensuing ninety-minute new play by Young Jean Lee.

Matt (a self-effacing but balanced Paul Schneider) lives with his father somewhere in the Midwest. He cooks for Ed (a compassionate and empathic Stephen Payne), cleans, bakes apple pies, sets up the Christmas tree for the annual Christmas Eve/Christmas Day homecoming, and provides emotional support for his widower dad. From all accounts it seems a mutually beneficial and mostly a healthy accommodation to a change in Matt’s life. Into this innocent father-son reunion, burst Matt’s brothers. Matt is out of work, volunteering, accommodating, kind, bright, and attentive. His working brothers, one a divorced corporate success and one a teacher receiving a full-time salary for teaching one class have none of Matt’s characteristics. Their arrival precipitates one of the most annoying sitcom episodes that pretends to have deep cultural meaning.

During one of many sitcom scenes, crowded on the sofa in matching plaid pajamas provided by Ed, the father-sons quartet share Chinese takeout while trash talking, texting, and drudging up childhood memories that are more juvenile in the present that they were in the past. During the conversation, Ed – who likes puffins – announces he is going on a cruise to Nova Scotia. This sparks a new round of puerile trash talk about Ed’s “puffin paraphernalia,” “General Tso’s Puffin,” “Puffin Fried Rice,” “Puffin Pot Sticker,” and “Moo Shu Puffin.” Much of this is directed toward Matt who, in exasperation, begins to cry.

This critical moment drives the remainder of Young Jean Lee’s play. Matt’s brothers Jake (an alarmingly juvenile Josh Charles) and Drew (an equally alarmingly juvenile but empathetic Armie Hammer) are convinced Matt needs psychotherapy, needs to move out of their father’s house, and use the Harvard education and talents he possesses to “better the world” as their mother would want him to. Jake lashes out at Matt calling him a loser. Generally, mayhem, insults, and silliness prevail throughout the rest of the play. Finally, after embarrassing and belittling Matt ad nauseam, Ed is forced to “man up,” grabs the reigns of tough love and evicts Matt. So much for straight, white men?

Are these entitled, judgmental, young, straight, white, successful men and their father supposed to be the epitome of Every-White-Straight-Man? Is their elitist behavior supposed to “shock” the audience? Is Young Jean Lee somehow trying to throw them and all straight white man a life raft in the turbulent sea of white privilege? Or is the playwright trying to use comedy as a way of exposing the deficiencies of being straight, and white, and male? Is the play an expose of the shortcomings and toxicity of the straight cisgender male? It is almost impossible to tell in this ninety-minute visit to the “museum tryptic” entitled “Straight White Men” the playwright has foisted upon the audience.

This critic relearned more about the role of straight white men in the history of humankind from the Persons in Charge (1 and 2) than from Young Jean Lee’s exhausting script. We learn from Person in Charge 2 Ty Defoe that he is “from the Oneida and the Ojibwe nations. My gender identity is Niizhi Manitouwug, which means “transcending gender” in the Ojibwe language.” We also learn from Ty that “This theater we’re all sitting in together is built on the land of my people.” And with just the hint of sarcasm he adds, “So Welcome.” A powerful summary of all that Ed and Drew failed to learn from their Mom’s version of Monopoly called ‘Privilege’ and what the audience fails to learn from sitting through “Straight White Men.”

Off-Broadway Review: “The House That Will Not Stand” Celebrates Freedom’s Prodigality at New York Theatre Workshop (Through Sunday August 12, 2018)

Photo: Harriett D. Foy, Lynda Gravátt, and Michelle Wilson in “The House That Will Not Stand.” Credit: Joan Marcus.

Off-Broadway Review: “The House That Will Not Stand” Celebrates Freedom’s Prodigality at New York Theatre Workshop (Through Sunday August 12, 2018)By Marcus GardleyDirected by Lileana Blain-CruzReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

Beartrice Albans (a resolute and Machiavellian Lynda Gravátt) spent her life under the oppressive laws that governed people of color in the colony of Louisiana. Specifically, she was Lazare’s placée a status that allows her as a woman of color to set up common law households with a white man to circumvent legal prohibitions. Beartrice’s mother signed the papers that placed the young woman into this form of indentured servitude. Lazare, of course, was married to a white woman although he and Beartrice had three daughters together. In “The House That Will Not Stand” at New York Theatre Workshop, Marcus Gardley examines what happens to Beartrice and her daughters when Lazare dies (mysteriously) and new American laws – post Louisiana Purchase in 1813 – threaten to leave them homeless and living in poverty. Is there any chance of survival for the house Beartrice “built” during her time with Lazare?

Under the new American laws, Beartrice’s house goes to Lazare’s wife after his death, not to Beartrice. “I spent most of my life trying to break the yoke I got ‘round my neck when my mother sold me to be a placée. I thought I was selling my body for love or at least for wealth but the only thing it afforded me in the end was this house.” Beartrice does not plan to give up her home in Creole Faubourg Tremé, Louisiana easily. Nor will she “see her daughters become placées and thusly the property of white men.” There are a variety of new plays on and off Broadway that parse the kinetics of white privilege and systemic racism in a fictional setting. “The House That Will Not Stand” analyzes the same themes in an historical setting from the point of view of those experiencing the oppression.

Since its original presentation by the New York Stage and Film Company and the Powerhouse Theatre at Vassar in 2012, Marcus Gardley’s important play has been performed across the country and around the world. Its presentation at NYTW could not be timelier or more significant. The struggles of these strong Creole women – forerunners of Civil Rights in America – resonate with the struggles of all marginalized persons who feel they are either far from accessing true freedom and equality or one step away from losing the freedom and equality they and their forebears fought for.

The divisions within Beartrice’s house are powerful tropes for the divisions that existed in the early 1800s in America and continue to exist in the present. Director Blain-Cruz uses these intriguing divisions to move the action of the play forward with the alacrity requisite to the story line. Lynda Gravátt’s gripping performance as Beartrice is the centerpiece of “The House That Will Not Stand.” Ms. Gravátt portrays Beartrice as a conflicted mother who attempts to juggle her own need to stay in power with the needs of her daughters Odette (Joniece Abbott-Pratt), Maude Lynn (Juliana Canfield), and Agnès (Nedra McClyde). Beartrice’s commitment to protect them despite the machinations of her sworn enemy La Veuve (Marie Thomas) and her clairvoyant sister Marie Josephine (Michelle Wilson) is unimaginably fierce. Lynda Gravátt’s multi-layered Beartrice will do anything, including giving herself to Lazare’s wife to keep her house standing.

Under Lileana Blain-Cruz’s deft direction, the seven-member all-female cast grabs the stage right at the beginning of the first act and never relaxes its tight grip on the plot driven by the conflicts of their individual characters. These are performances the audience will not easily forget – they sear deeply into the psyche with logos, ethos, pathos and humor as they explore the dynamics of systemic racism and sexism and freedom. Lileana Blain-Cruz creates stunning “pictures” throughout the performance that transcend traditional boundaries of space and time. These “pictures” include the compelling scene during which Beartrice’s slave Makeda (Harriet D. Foy) casts a spell on the deceased Lazare and allows him to overtake her body to learn the truth of his death. Ms. Foy’s performance is as brilliant as it is unsettling. Beartrice’s daughters and her sister have different ideas of how to escape bondage and these scenes are equally compelling.

Adam Rigg’s scenic design is magnificent and captures the splendor and period of the Creole cottage in Louisiana. Montana Levi Blanco’s costumes and Cookie Jordan’s wigs are award-worthy and period perfect. Yi Zhao’s lighting and Justin Ellington’s sound and original music capture the mystery and pathos of Marcus Gardley’s script.

Beartrice is the mother who knows that her daughters “will be spat on because of the color of their skin, raped because of their flesh, made to slave in kitchens because of their sex;” however, despite their prodigality and upon their return “crawling on [their] necks, begging [her] with [their] baby eyes,” she will “still be here, sitting on my throne. I’ll sit back, suck my teeth and say so sweetly…Well…Welcome Home!” Prodigal daughters and prodigal mother willing to sacrifice all to obtain and preserve freedom. “The House That Will Not Stand” raises the essential and enduring questions needed to continue the discussion of systemic racism in America.

THE HOUSE THAT WILL NOT STAND

The cast for “The House That Will Not Stand” includes Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Juliana Canfield, Harriett D. Foy, Lynda Gravátt, Nedra McClyde, Marie Thomas, and Michelle Wilson.

The creative team includes scenic designer Adam Rigg, costume designer Montana Levi Blanco, lighting designer Yi Zhao, and sound design and original music by Justin Ellington. Movement is by Raja Feather Kelly. The dialect and vocal coach is Dawn-Elin Fraser. Terri Kohler serves as stage manager. Production photos by Joan Marcus.

“The House That Will Not Stand” runs at New York Theatre Workshop (79 East 4th Street) through Sunday, August 12, 2018. For the performance schedule and to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.nytw.org/. Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes including a 15-minute intermission.

Photo: Harriett D. Foy, Lynda Gravátt, and Michelle Wilson in “The House That Will Not Stand.” Credit: Joan Marcus.

Dreams. Daydreams. The dreamers write the scripts casting characters from their lives and casting themselves as the protagonists. The dreamers, write, cast, act in, and direct these phantasmagoric and kaleidoscopic vignettes that are “performed” while they are nestled in REM sleep or daydreaming on public transportation or at work. “Mary Page Marlowe,” currently running at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater, is an engaging non-linear cascade of such kaleidoscopic vignettes from the title character’s life as a child of twelve (Mia Sinclair Jenness) to her life as an adult of sixty-nine (Blair Brown) facing her mortality in a Lexington, Kentucky hospital room. Brokenness seems to have shadowed Mary Page during this passage of time along with the dysfunction from which brokenness often erupts.

Tracy Letts, who often writes about the dysfunction extant in family systems, pulls the curtain back from a dramatic examination a specific tortured American family, to examine the cultural underbelly of the provenance of that systemic dysfunction – how Mary Page might have been traumatized. In 1996 when she is 50 (Kellie Overbey), Mary Page “I told you to get some help! Didn’t I? I told you that your drinking was out of control! You’re killing yourself!”

This is one of the “panels” that Mary Page “sews” during her life. This metaphor of the patchwork quilt – its stains, the “different” women making the quilt, the materials used, the relative condition of each panel – is introduced at the end of the play when in 2005 fifty-nine-year-old Mary Page (Blair Brown) visits the drycleaners in Lexington, Kentucky and she asks the proprietor Ben (Elliot Villar) whether her “quilt” can be repaired and cleaned.

Each scene, each panel, discloses a “bit” of Mary Page’s life, her relationships with her children, the disparate experiences with marriage with three husbands. Indeed, there is dysfunction in each of these vignettes; however, it is what underlies the dysfunction – the trauma involved in the vicissitudes of life – that energizes Tracy Letts’s script and makes Mary Page an “Everywoman.” She is an accountant in Kentucky trying to figure out who she is and where she fits into the larger community. She faces abuse and neglect: she abuses and neglects. She has extramarital affairs. She sees a “shrink” (Marcia Debonis) at thirty-six (Tatiana Maslany).

Under Lila Neugebauer’s exquisite direction, the actors playing Mary Page each give intriguing performances that focus on the pastiche of one “ordinary” American facing the dangers inherent in leaving “the crib” and separating and individuating from the nuclear family. This collage of a person seems to be a copy of other stories like those “belonging to” Mary Page Marlowe and this familiarity is the source of the plays disquieting construction and execution. The actors who are part of each panel in Mary Page’s life also deliver authentic and believable performances.

Laura Jellinek’s multi-level set, Kay Voyce’s decade specific costumes, and Tyler Micoleau’s lighting work well with the actors’ craft to delineate scenes, places, and moods. Brandon Wolcott’s sound design and Bray Poor’s original music envelope the work of the creative team in sonorous tones of expectation.

MARY PAGE MARLOWE

“Mary Page Marlowe” runs at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater (305 West 43rd Street) through Sunday August 12, 2018. For further information about the production including cast, creative team, performance schedule, and to purchase tickets, visit https://2st.com/. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: Roundabout’s “Skintight” at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (Through Sunday August 26, 2018)

Photo: Eli Gelb and Idina Menzel in “Skintight.” Credit: Joan Marcus.

Off-Broadway Review: Roundabout’s “Skintight” at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (Through Sunday August 26, 2018)By Joshua HarmonDirected by Daniel AukinReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

Thrown under the bus by her ex-husband Greg, a carping, selfish, completely self-centered Jodi Isaac (Idina Menzel) takes the red-eye from Los Angeles to New York City to “celebrate” her a self-assured father Elliot Isaac’s (Jack Wetherall) birthday. However, the real reason for her visit is that she “just, like couldn't physically be in LA knowing” Greg and his new twenty-four-year-old bestie Misty would be celebrating their engagement at a party where all her friends would be present. Jodi brings her twenty-year-old self-absorbed son Benjamin Cullen (Eli Gelb) along hoping a “family” birthday party will please Elliot and bring her some surcease from her angst over losing her fifty-year-old husband to a younger “more beautiful” woman.

It becomes clear in the first few moments that Jodi is a self-centered, self-absorbed, spoiled individual who has no one’s interests at heart except her own. This character deficit becomes solidified when her father’s handsome, confident, unconventional lover Trey (Will Brittain) appears from upstairs and Jodi assumes he works for Elliot. Jodi refuses to understand he is part of Isaac’s family – perhaps the most important member of his family. Trey, of course, is beautiful and young and, just as Misty “stole” her husband, Trey has wrenched her father from her leaving Jodi bereft beyond belief.

Joshua Harmon tackles themes of fidelity, beauty, love, and betrayal in his “Skintight” currently running at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. It is difficult to know whether Elliot’s and Trey’s marriage will last or what Trey’s motivations are for asking Elliot to marry him. Nor is it easy to understand Elliot’s motivations or his concept of fidelity. After all, Jeff (Stephen Carrasco) was once Elliot’s lover and now his butler and manservant. What is not difficult is to recognize that Elliot and Trey are in love in the present and their love transcends Jodi’s experiences with marriage, love, or fidelity. If only Mr. Harmon had chosen a better metaphor to describe Elliot’s affection for Trey than the unsettling (on many levels) metaphor expressed in in the sentence “I'd like to have sheets made from your skin.”

These themes and the characters that are embedded in them are not new. There are several plays and movies that feature a younger man capturing the heart of an older man and “coming between” the older man and his family. The difference here is on Joshua Harmon’s handling of the plot sequences that are driven by his perhaps familiar characters and their conflicts. There is a freshness to the theme that transcends its familiarity.

Under Daniel Aukin’s carefully executed direction, the characters explore their individual pasts and their histories with family and friends with honesty. Their portraits are authentic. One wishes for a more dynamic and layered Jodi. Because her character traits make her such an unlikable person, it is difficult to explore the deficits she claims to have experienced with her father. The same holds true of her son Benjamin. Although Eli Gelb charges his character’s “time alone” with the jock-strapped Trey with the energy of a pubescent gay young man, the actor is not given much by the playwright to make his Benjamin a likeable character. Unfortunately, the deep angst of these two characters remains unexplored by the playwright. Jack Wetherall, on the other hand, brings unbridled emotion to Elliot’s closing monologue about his affection for Trey and Will Brittain powerfully combines the beauty and softness of a Troy Donahue with the rough edges and grit of a James Dean in his splendid portrayal of Trey.

Lauren Helpern’s set reflect the playwright’s affinity for stairs as a trope for character development and neatly captures the essence of privilege and wealth to which the Isaaks/Cullens have become accustomed in their successful adult lives as do Jess Goldstein’s costumes. Orsolya’s (Cynthia Mace) maid’s costume speaks for itself and supports her pleasing performance as the maid who knows best.

“Skintight” ends on a hopeful note. Somehow the characteristics of an authentic family modeled by Elliot and Trey ignite enough memory to convince Jodi and Benjamin that some new understanding of family is now possible and even desirable.

“Skintight” plays at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street) through Tuesday through Sunday August 26, 2018 on the following performance schedule: Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 3:00 p.m. Tickets for “Skintight” are available by calling 212-719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org, or in person at any Roundabout box office. Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: “Fire in Dreamland” at The Public’s Anspacher Theater (Through Sunday August 5, 2018)Written by Rinne GroffDirected by Marissa WolfReviewed by David RobertsTheatre Reviews Limited

"There have been, and will be again, many destructions of [humankind] arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes." – Plato (“Timaeus”)

Rinne Groff has created an engaging extended metaphor based on the 1911 fire that destroyed the iconic Dreamland on Coney Island. Counterpointing the event of the suspicious destruction by fire is the destruction by water by superstorm Sandy in 2012 and the “destruction” of Kate (Rebecca Naomi Jones) by the “lesser causes” of betrayal, self-doubt, and prevarication. “Fire in Dreamland,” currently running at The Public’s Anspacher Theater, explores that metaphor and its trove of rhetorical devices that bombard the senses and often places the audience in a surreal wonderland.

Standing on the pier in Coney Island, Kate attempts to deflect the advances of the aggressive Jaap Hooft (Enver Gjokaj) the Dutch filmmaker who approaches her and offers to wipe the mascara from the right side of her face. Kate has been crying. Kate is lonely. Kate ultimately is swept away by the dashing and handsome filmmaker who wants to make a film about the fire that focuses on the animals that were destroyed, including the iconic Black Prince. “Fire in Dreamland” recounts the relationship between Kate and Jaap and how its disastrous outcome counterpoints the disasters on Dreamland, Superstorm Sandy, and those that eventually challenge the survival of Everyman.

Director Marissa Wolf and the three-member cast grapple successfully with Rinne Groff’s demanding script which results in a sometimes mind-spinning tumble into the playwright’s wonderland of fractured realism laced with magical realism and “theatre noire.” Until Lance appears on stage he is far upstage right sitting in a beach chair barely in sight behind post-Sandy reconstruction scaffolding. During this time, Lance (Kyle Beltran) edits (“blinks”) scenes using his clapperboard. When he emerges from the shadows, he is identified as the New York Film Academy staff member who “signs out” equipment for one-time student Jaap. The sound of the clapperboard stops and starts scenes that are not defined by time, space, or any other imaginable dimension.

Rebecca Naomi Jones’s Kate is multilayered and believable. Ms. Jones infuses her character with an honesty that is both convincing and powerful. Enver Gjokaj’s Jaap is self-centered, selfish, and his “charm” is disquieting. And Kyle Beltran’s languorous Lance emerges from the scaffolding emboldened to take on Jaap and somehow “rescue” Kate.

Susan Hilferty’s Coney Island Boardwalk/bedroom scenic design is expansive and provides the “space” needed to explore the crevices of Groff’s script. Creeping out under the first row of patron seats, the boardwalk beckons the audience into the playwright’s bizarre world of flaming lion manes, clicking clapperboards, and fractured hearts. Ms. Hilfery’s costumes tease the imagination and the senses – those mermaid costumes! Amith Chandrashaker’s lighting and Brendan Aanes’s original sound and music blend “reality” and “fantasy” in remarkable shadowy “soundbites.”

In Rabbi Harold S. Kushner’s groundbreaking “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” the author concludes there is no compelling answer to the title’s question; however, he posits that the real question is what do people do after illness, death of a loved one, or natural disaster occurs? And in his follow-up “Living A Life That Matters,” he suggests that what one needs to do after the calamitous events is to make a commitment to creating and living a life that matters to others and to the world.

Whether the fire in Dreamland was arson or not; whether the 2012 hurricane on the East coast was providential or not; and whether Kate was broken by Jaap’s actions, it is what the residents on Coney Island did after disaster and What Kate does after being “duped” by Jaap (was she?) that is important. Rinne Goff opts for hopefulness in “Fire in Dreamland.” Embracing motherhood and creativity rather than loneliness and despair has the power to extinguish flames, emerge from the Flood, and all the “other” destructions of humankind.

“Fire in Dreamland” features scenic and costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Amith Chandrashaker, and original music and sound design by Brendan Aanes. Production photos by Joan Marcus.

“Fire in Dreamland” runs at The Public’s Anspacher Theater (425 Lafayette Street) through Sunday, August 5, 2018 on the following performance schedule: Tuesday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Public Theater Partner, Supporter, Member tickets and full price tickets, starting at $60.00, can be accessed by calling (212) 967-7555, visiting www.publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater. Running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes without intermission.

Off-Broadway Review: National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (Through Sunday September 2, 2018)Book by Joseph SteinMusic by Jerry BockLyrics by Sheldon HarnickDirected by Joel GreyReviewed by Joseph VerlezzaTheatre Reviews Limited

There is considerable Jewish culture captured in the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” the iconic musical that has won a respectable reputation in theater history. Since it first opened on Broadway in 1964 to win nine TONY awards, “Fiddler” went on to become the longest running Broadway musical. Since that original production, there have been five Broadway revivals. The collaboration of Joseph Stein (book), Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) resulted in one of the best musicals of the American Theater. However, the Yiddish version, translated by Shraga Friedman over fifty years ago, has never been performed in the United States and is now having its premiere, produced by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The production is deftly directed by Joel Grey with exciting musical staging and culturally influenced choreography by Stas Kmiec. Oh, what a production it is!

This present revival is as simple as the inhabitants of the fictional Russian shtetl, Anatevka, as powerful as their religious convictions, and shines a bright light on the emotional and poignant struggle of facing a new and sometimes bitter world. Freeing itself from the burden of extravagance, it manifests a certain reality that pulls the audience in, so they become a part of the tightknit community. It is beyond suspension of disbelief, as it creates an actuality that transfers the spectator to another time and place to share in joyous celebration and an onerous plight. Past productions of this work are usually dominated by the musical numbers which have endured a life of their own but in this present incarnation, they are so well integrated that they appear as part of everyday life and the mantra of “tradition.”

Steven Skybell brings a solid, reverent and practical Tevye to this production, brimming with conflict, humor and honesty which rings true to the everyman, regardless of race, color or creed. His charming baritone reflects his characters wisdom and vulnerability. All this plays well off the stern and stoic Golde as portrayed by the layered performance of Mary Illes, who manages to redeem the nearly as impenetrable character with waves of compassion. Jackie Hoffman infuses matchmaker Yente with consistent welcomed humor that purposely disguises a woman who is alone and lonely. Rachel Zatcoff is an assertive Tsaytl devoted to the impoverished tailor Motl, enacted with a timorous innocence by Daniel Kahn. The rebellious Hodl is brought to life with a solid conviction by Stephanie Lynne Mason demonstrating determined energy and a steadfast commitment to an unexpected romance. The curious Khave, is given a thirst for knowledge by the wholesome and fearless Rosie Jo Neddy. She is the most adventuresome daughter, crossing religious and cultural boundaries to elope and marry a Christian, Fyedke, a stalwart and intelligent Cameron Johnson.

The entire twenty-six-member cast is wonderful and works diligently to reach the core of this story in the native Yiddish language which proves to authenticate the time and place. They are supported by a wonderful twelve-piece orchestra conducted by Zalmen Moitek, which fills the space with memorable melodies. This production is not perfect yet and can be tweaked here and there but it is certainly on the way. It is purely a demonstration of the incredible power of theater. Kudos to the entire cast and creative team for collaborating to present a cogent, emotional and entertaining production. Mazel Tov!

National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s “Fiddler on the Roof” runs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (36 Battery Place) through Sunday September 2, 2018. For tickets and performance schedule, visit http://nytf.org/ or call 866-811-4111. For group sales and memberships, call 212-213-2120 Ext. 204. Running time is 3 hours with a 15-minute intermission.